Cemetery memorial groundbreaking at Sonoma Developmental Center

As the future of the Sonoma Developmental Center is finalized later this month, a group of parents and political leaders secured a memorial dedicated to past residents of the center.

Kathleen Miller, president of the SDC Parent Hospital Association, along with state Sens. Mike McGuire and Bill Dodd, broke ground Saturday on the Historical Eldridge Cemetery memorial to immortalize the people who died while living or working at the center.

“I don't recall when I first learned about the cemetery, but I know it was even later when I figured out where it was,” Miller said. “I recall seeing the gate and I overlooked the quiet field. And I had this feeling this is a very special place.”

The first burials at Eldridge Cemetery took place May 3, 1892, with the last on Dec. 9, 1939. In total, over 1,500 former residents and “a couple dedicated staff” members lie in the SDC’s ground, according to memorial planners.

The burial ground and its gravestones fell into disrepair after decades of neglect, said Christian Pease, an Eldridge Cemetery Memorial Committee member and former SDC employee.

“I have not wanted to see them forgotten,” Miller said. “This memorial is going to be a vision come to life.”

The memorial took a village to secure. Ezrah Chaaban, chief of staff to Dodd; John Doyle, the former chief deputy director of the Department of Developmental Services; and the Eldridge Memorial Committee sought more than $600,000 to establish the memorial.

The process to erect a cemetery memorial began under Doyle’s tenure. He worked for many years in the state’s finance department, and said he’d grown a “natural cynicism” about securing funding for special projects like the cemetery memorial.

“To your credit, Kathleen, and the assistance of the legislature, you’ve done something really amazing,” Doyle said to Miller during a ceremony Saturday. “It’s wonderful to come back and see what’s been accomplished.”

For Pease, the groundbreaking felt great in spite of the cold, damp weather.

“Finally after five years, it looks like this is going to happen. All these people came all this way in this weather to a cold building that hasn’t had heat for over a year just to partake in it,” Pease said. “And all of them had something to do to get this done.”

The memorial is projected to be completed in fall 2023. Chaaban was mentioned by McGuire and Dodd for his personal efforts to secure funding, which required three separate rounds of requests between the Department of Developmental Services and the Department of General Services to pencil out dollars in the state’s budget for a memorial.

“I’m just so happy to give the people who are resting here the recognition they deserve,” Chaaban said. “They lived their lives here, they passed away here, and now people can see, in an appropriate way, a memorial to their lives.”

Miller stood among state and county leaders as they lined up with ceremonial shovels Saturday at the entrance to the cemetery. The Valley of the Moon Threshold Choir sang a hymnal to the drum of raindrops on umbrellas.

“It is the voice inside the heart that never stops singing,” they sang.

Miller had planned the memorial during her tenure working at the SDC , working with families to manage the remains of their loved ones.

When Miller first encountered the cemetery at the SDC, a “sun-drenched evening” illuminated the barren field where so many lay without gravestones. From that moment, she said she didn’t want those clients forgotten. “Why was there no memorial in place,” she wondered. “Did something happen to the headstones?”

“I know there were some who believed it would never happen. There were others who felt like, ‘Why bother? This is in the past.’” Miller said. “But we must pause and reflect on what has come before if we are to learn from it and honor those who have paved the paths that we now walk.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.