Exhibitor Profile: Sacramento County Cemetery Advisory Commission

Source: Sacramento County
Cemetery Advisory Commission webpage

Please welcome the Sacramento County Cemetery Advisory Commission as an exhibitor at Family History Day at the California State Archives.

The Commission, formed approximately 10 years ago, is composed of a representative from each supervisorial district, one from each District Cemetery, one at large and one Veterans Representative.  The goal is to try to protect the integrity of Sacramento County’s historic cemeteries.

The Commission's past projects include:

• Amnesty program developed for gravemarker return
• October dedicated as “Cemetery Appreciation Month”
• Five Indigent memorials erected at the five cemeteries with most indigent burials
• Brochure published on Sacramento’s District Cemeteries
• Brochure published on New Helvetia Cemetery
• Developed a listing and categorization of Sacramento County Cemeteries
• Assisting in return of “displaced” gravemarkers to the appropriate cemetery
• Developed a website (part of the Coroner’s site)
• Designated (Phase 1) certain cemeteries as “Historic Cemeteries” and provide an plaque for each of them.
• Consulted and evaluated several projects at local cemeteries
• Created an Ordinance for Sacramento Cemeteries to help preserve and protect our historic cemeteries (Pending approval by Board of Supervisors)
• Coordinated a photographic project with volunteers to photograph tombstones…so far Fair Oaks Cemetery has been completed, and over 17,000 photographs have been taken at the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery

The Commission's current projects include:

• Preparing a brochure on interesting persons buried in District Cemeteries
• Developing a comprehensive database of burials at New Helvetia
• Planning our October 2012 events with the theme of  “Remembering the Indigents”
• Adding a page on each cemetery in Sacramento County to website
• Developing a list of all Veteran Burial sites in our region
• Continuing to do GPS coordinates on Sacramento Cemeteries to ensure they are included on the master County GIS map
• Continuing to respond to telephone and email requests from the Community, many of them related to locating relatives, particularly indigent burials

Please contact Dr. Bob LaPerriere, (916) 481-4525 for further questions…or email him at xtbob@surewest.net.

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posted by Denise H. Richmond