Burial ground gets new life
by Lenny Roberts

Until recently, it looked like a two-acre, weed-infested plot of land on Villanova Road, riddled with the persistent efforts of gophers and ground squirrels. A closer look yielded the remnants of a few toppled tombstones surrounded by long-forgotten grave sites - most of which will never be identified.
Reportedly, records of most, if not all, of the burials were lost in Ojai's catastrophic fire of 1917, which burned the home of Sexton McKee. McKee was a cemetery trustee for both the Nordhoff and Catholic cemeteries in the early 1900s, according to Bill Friend, a longtime member of the Ventura County Historical Society.
The cemetery was established in 1912, when, according to letters on file at the Ojai Museum, William Kerfoot deeded two acres of land to the Los Angeles Archdiocese for what was to become St. Thomas Aquinas Cemetery. It interred its last guest years ago, and has since fallen victim to neglect and vandalism.
Three months ago, sometime after the 83-year-old tombstone of 5-year-old Juan G. Lopez mysteriously wound up at Nordhoff Cemetery, the Archdiocese began cleaning up the site, and installed a chain-link fence around what is now an arched-gate entry. But unlike typical cemeteries, the driveless entryway leads to a field of dead but neatly mowed weeds and spring grass, and not to marked graves.
"This place is locked up now," caretaker Ed Kurtenbach explained. "We've had a lot of desecration to the graves and a lot of beer bottles under the oak trees."
With the exception of a few toppled tombstones and pedestals stripped of what used to be, the once-proud burial ground for many poor Hispanics and others who could only afford coffee cans or rocks as markers is just a useless piece of Ojai's history. No one else can be buried there because no one knows for sure exactly where the graves are.
Kurtenbach, who was recently recognized for his years of above-and-beyond volunteer service to both St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Villanova Preparatory School, is in charge of maintenance and general landscaping for the plot of land just up the road from Villanova's main entrance.
Kurtenbach said according to the new bronze marker just inside the new wrought-iron gate, there are 27 confirmed burials at the cemetery, although only one or two can be located. Poi Pearl, who owns neighboring land, estimated that based on the rows of coffee-can markers he remembers seeing in the 1950s, there could be as many as 75 to 100 people buried there.
"The reason there are no real markers is that very poor members of mostly Mexican families were buried there. That's why they used coffee cans. But they were all legal plots, even thought the county has no real record," Kurtenbach said.
"If any relatives have loved ones or family members buried there, we need to know. We can put their names on the bronze plaque to recognize that they are buried there."
A dedication is planned for late July, where George Harsh, head of all maintenance of cemeteries in the Archdiocese and St. Thomas pastor Father Keane are expected to attend.
Kurtenbach and George Patterson, who has since moved to Porterville, did the footwork on the restoration job. Kurtenbach constructed an 8-foot, white wooden cross surrounded by a semi-circle rock wall that hosts four or five broken cement grave markers - most of which are unreadable.
"That's not where they're buried; we put them there just to remember them," Kurtenbach said.
The cross, like the grave-sized patch of irises under an oak tree that emerge and bloom each year, and the toppled marble stone marking the crypt of one Archibald McDonell, are the only visible proof that this is actually a cemetery, other than two pieces of rotting 4X4 wood near the entrance that seem to indicate a burial.
Once a year, Betty McAllister places a red ribbon the makeshift cross.
"I do not know who is buried there," she explained. "Years ago, it got so neglected I thought I'd put a little red ribbon at Christmastime. It gave me a good feeling."
McAllister said she found out later that the burial site may be that of a member of the Gutierrez family.
"I'm glad it's there because it was the only sign that it was a cemetery for years, and it kind of reminds me of the song. "The Old Rugged Cross," she said.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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