P6 The SpokeSman • WedneSday, march 2, 2022
History is preserved at
Redmond Memorial Cemetery
BY BILL BARTLETT
for The Spokesman
REDMOND — As cemeter-
ies go, Redmond’s is not partic-
ularly historic nor picturesque.
It is not one of the more than
1,500 Oregon Pioneer ceme-
teries in the manner of Camp
Polk Cemetery in Sisters or
Masten Cemetery in La Pine.
In fact, it could be desig-
nated historic as it meets the
primary qualification given
that it has at least one burial of
a person who died before Feb-
ruary 14, 1909 — 50 years after
Oregon became a state. Red-
mond Memorial Cemetery has
eight such burials among its
5,600. Harriet Susanna Garri-
son Foster was buried in 1895
at age 40 and later moved to
the present cemetery.
The cemetery contains the
remains of Rebecca Elliott who
was 98 when buried in 1924.
Natalie Rae Wilcox is buried
there, the youngest, who lived
7 months and 9 days.
The Redmond Memorial
Cemetery is located at 3545 S.
Canal Blvd. on the city’s south
side. On July 28, 1906, James
G. McGuffie learned of the
death of Ezra and Lottie Eby’s
9-month-old son, Lewis Clark
Eby.
McGuffie was a part-time
preacher for the Presbyterian
Church and worked for the
Deschutes Irrigation Company.
That night McGuffie surveyed,
cleared and fenced the original
grounds of the Redmond Me-
morial Cemetery.
The cemetery is divided into
11 sections with two colum-
barium’s. There are designated
sections for babies, veterans
and their family members,
the “Ash Gardens” for inter-
ments, as well as the standard
size plots for caskets. Approxi-
mately 20 acres encompass the
cemetery and it is maintained
by the Public Works Depart-
ment’s Parks Division.
Travel a bit north to just un-
der the shadow of Smith Rock
and you will find Terrebonne
Pioneer Cemetery, although its
younger than Redmond Me-
morial. The earliest graves are
1918. There are 728 souls in-
terred there including a good
number who were laid to rest
as Redmond began to flourish
as “the hub” of central Oregon.
Repository for history, too
Cemeteries are more than
a place to bury the dead. Par-
adoxically, they are living his-
tory museums that give visitors
a glimpse into life back when.
When is where your interest
leads you. For Hershel Nance
of Redmond, he finds Memo-
rial Cemetery a good place to
be reminded of the service and
sacrifice of military veterans
there being many hundreds
buried in Memorial’s confines.
Nearing 90 now, it’s harder
for him to get around to all the
soldiers and sailors in the hal-
lowed ground. He likes to keep
the little U.S. flags and other
military insignia at the grave
sites tidy.
Vounteers do the upkeep
Maureen Ryder and her sis-
ter, Cathy Powers, are regular
visitors who without authority
or notice remove flowers that
have, like the graves they deco-
rate, expired. “Nobody has ever
questioned us,” Ryder said.
Powers added: “We sure hope
nobody is upset with us but we
think family and loved ones
would appreciate looking after
things a bit.”
Bill Bartlett photo
Earliest graves in Redmond Memorial Cemetery are in The Old Section.
for pets to be brought to visit
the graves of their owners that
they survived.
Exploring area cemeteries is
perhaps a better winter activity
than first meets the eye espe-
cially if history is one of your
interests or you are just plain
curious about early settlers to
Redmond.
e
Email bill.bartlett@mail.com
Terrebonne Pioneer Cemetery with stately trees and Smith Rock in
background.
Other than the “old section”
which sits among trees at the
base of a slope, Redmond Me-
morial is flat by design and
void of shrubbery or trees.
The old section as the name
implies is where the earliest
graves are located. There you
will find traditional looking
headstones, none more than a
few feet in height and none in-
dividually fenced. Some of the
older ones are getting harder
to read as time has eroded the
engravings.
The remainder of the ceme-
tery only has head stones that
are flush to the ground, all
neatly ordered. So when you
look across the vast expanse on
a snowy day you see only snow
with an occasional flower ar-
rangement poking through.
Many flower tributes are ar-
tificial yet look quite real given
the state of the art today in
such things.
Children seem to have a
particular fascination with
cemeteries. The occasional
school outing to Redmond
Memorial invariably rewards
curious children. “Most poi-
gnant,” Powers — a retired
teacher from Eastern Oregon
— says is “when children en-
counter the graves of infant
deaths.”
Families choosing crema-
tion over burial but wanting
a permanent memorial none-
theless have the columbar-
ium at Redmond Memorial
as a prominent place to honor
loved ones in perpetuity. Niche
size vaults built into the promi-
nent walls are designed to hold
urns.
Scattering of ashes
The Ash Garden is the sim-
plest and for many the most
sacred of ways in which to
bury. Cremated ashes are scat-
tered, there being no individ-
ual markers only a recording
of the date and name.
Readers of a certain age will
remember growing up that
Memorial Day, the national
holiday celebrated on the last
Monday of May as “decora-
tion” day when graves were
visited and left adorned with
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lavish floral arrangements.
“Not so much any more,” Ry-
der and Powers lament.
Like most cemeteries Red-
mond Memorial is open for
visitation from dawn to dusk
every day of the year. While
serene and park like it should
not be used as a picnic area or
playground. Pets are welcome
on a leash and it is common
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Worship Directory
Baptist
Non-Denominational
Highland Baptist Church
Seventh Day Adventist
3100 SW Highland Ave., Redmond
541-548-4161
Barry Campbell, Lead Pastor
945 W. Glacier Ave.,
Redmond, OR
541-923-0301
Sunday Worship Services:
Get great
service &
great rates.
Blended - 8 & 9 am
Contemporary - 10:30 am
(Worship Center)
hbc Español - 10:30 am
Acoustic - 6 pm
(Youth Room)
*9 am & 10:30 am live-streamed on
website: www.hbcredmond.org
Family Night Wednesdays
(January 2 - March 16)
5:30 pm - Dinner in Gym (free)
6 pm - Practical classes for all ages
Joe A Lochner Ins Acy Inc
Joe A Lochner, Agent
www.joelochner.com
Redmond, OR 97756
Bus: 541-548-6023
See website for a list of classes!
How can hbc pray for you?
prayer@hbcredmond.org
Sabbath School 9:30 am
Worship 10:45 am
Roman Catholic
St Thomas Roman Catholic
Church
1720 NW 19th Street
Redmond, Oregon 97756
541-923-3390
Father Todd Unger, Pastor
Mass Schedule:
Weekdays 8:00 am
(Except Wednesdays)
Wednesday 6:00 pm
Saturday Vigil 5:00 pm
First Saturday 8:00 am (English)
Sunday 8:00 am, 10:00 am (English)
12:00 noon (Spanish)
CHECK YOUR AD
On the first day it runs to
make sure it is correct.
Call 541-617-7823 for corrections.
Confessions on Wednesdays
From 5:00 to 5:45 pm and on
Saturdays From 3:00 to 4:30 pm