Clifford Walls is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery

I posted what I know about Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nestor in http://ssdcgraveyardrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/04/mount-olivet-cemetery-in-nestor.html.

I received an email from Albert Walls, who saw that blog post recently, and he noted that:

"My oldest brother Clifford  Walls is buried there right along the fence line on Iris Street about 50 Ft. from the gate.  He was killed in 1935 or 1936 when he was 16. I was just a baby at the time, but during World War II my mother used to go up to the grave site and put flowers on his grave, all he had was a marker.  Later one of my other brothers made a concrete slab on his grave site. The last time I was there in 2008, I could not find any trace of his site. I found the listing on people that are buried there, but his name was not on the list. There was 5 of us boys; I am the youngest, and all my family is gone now.  I am 75 years old.  I would like for him to at least be put on that list.  We lived at Imperial Beach most of my life, and I am now living in Bakersfield Ca.

" My father, Claude Melvin Walls,  spent 32 years in the Navy. My mother is Florence Walls.  They both are buried at Ft. Rosecrans Cemetery."

I responded and Albert permitted me to post this information on this blog so that it might be saved for posterity.

The Mount Olivet Cemetery listing on the USGWArchives site is at http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sandiego/cemeteries/mount-olivet.txt.  It does not include the name of Clifford Walls. 

Does anyone know how the name of Clifford Walls could be added to the Mount Olivet listing?  I tried to find the death date for Clifford, but cannot access that listing on the www.VitalSearch-CA.com website.

"Personal Plots" at La Vista Memorial Park

This article by David Hasemeyer was published in the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper on 28 November 2004 - it is online here at SignOnSanDiego.

The article describes the non-endowed area, called Rest Haven, in the La Vista Memorial Park in National City, California. There are descriptions, and photos, of several of the very personal plots, grave markers and memorials - there are essentially no rules for grave markers in Rest Haven. There are other parts of La Vista Memorial Park that are endowed - meaning they are kept mowed and cleaned, but there are some rules about grave marker types and sizes in these areas.

The article notes:

"Endowed cemeteries give the impression that the dead are remembered because the landscape is constantly groomed by maintenance workers. But at Rest Haven it's clear that only relatives and friends can truly keep a memory alive. "

and:

"About 1,000 people are buried on Rest Haven's four acres and about 1,000 more graves could be added if the cemetery decides to sell any more. "

[Former La Vista manager Ruth] Cook surveyed the cemetery with a look of tenderness and pity for those who have been unattended for decades. "All of these headstones make you feel that they were somebody who meant something at some time to somebody," she said. "I can imagine the day when families would gather."

I enjoy wandering around the Rest Haven part of La Vista Memorial Park. Some of the monuments and memorials are impressive, some are very simple, but they all commemorate the passing of a loved one.

My Carringer great-great-grandparents are buried here, as are Frederick and Elizabeth (Seaver) Blanchard, cousins from Massachusetts.

Memorial Day at La Vista Memorial Park

..
The La Vista Memorial Park and Mausoleum are having their fifth annual Memorial Day Celebration from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, 31 May. The Park is located at 3191 Orange Street in National City CA, 91950.

The flyer announcing this event is below:

There will be food, beverages and entertainment for the whole family to enjoy. As a special treat, dignitaries (I wonder who?) will be rolling up their sleeves and serving up the refreshments.

There will be the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the "Gone but not Forgotten" by La Vista Memorial Park and the San Diego County Administrator, Public Guardian.

El Cajon Cemetery Listings Online

The San Diego Genealogical Society (SDGS) published a 311 page coil-bound book of El Cajon (CA) Cemetery burials in 2007. The book contains entries for over 8800 burials dating from the late 1880s through June 2007, along with a short preface describing the location and history of the cemetery. Interested parties can purchase the book for $30 on the SDGS web site.

The book is available in PDF format on the SDGS web page - see http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~casdgs/leaves/data/elcajoncemetery.pdf.


The preface of the book describes the location and a short history of the property:

"El Cajon Cemetery is located on over twelve acres of rolling hills just east of El Cajon, in
San Diego County, California, at 2080 Dehesa Road (at the junction of Dehesa Road and
Vista Grande Road – GPS: 32° 47’ 18.47”N, 116° 54’ 30.84”W). Once considered the
outskirts of town, it is now surrounded by homes and urban development. In 1990, the
cemetery faced closure due to lack of space. The El Cajon Cemetery Association
purchased an additional 5.25 adjoining acres, now referred to as the ‘new section,’ and
burials began there in April 1996. Approximately 250 burials per year take place at the
cemetery. There is an onsite office and a full-time staff."

This book is extremely well-done, and is a credit to the SDGS volunteers who worked for many hours to gather the information, organize it and publish it.

The one problem with using the book online is that the cemetery entries are published in landscape view, but my browser (Internet Explorer 7) does not permit rotation of the PDF web page. If you download the book to your computer, then open it in Adobe Reader (version 8), you can go to View > Rotate View > Clockwise and make it readable in landscape view.