Los Gatos Memorial Park Explained

Los Gatos Memorial Park
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Location:	San Jose, California
Country:	United States
Coordinates:	37.2444°N -121.9414°W

Los Gatos Memorial Park is the principle cemetery of Los Gatos, California, established in 1889. It occupies some thirty acres, with the main entrance at 2255 Los Gatos-Almaden Road, San Jose, California 95124.^[1]

By the late 1880s, Los Gatos needed a cemetery, and the matter was considered by the Odd Fellows Lodge. As a result, on December 9, 1889, some members of the lodge formed the Los Gatos Cemetery Association, with J. H. Lyndon as president, and it went on to acquire land and establish a burial ground which was at first known as the Los Gatos Cemetery.^[2]

In 1901, the cemetery was advertised as "2½ miles E on Almaden rd", with offices in Los Gatos at Main near Railroad Avenue.^[3]

By 1997, the Los Gatos Cemetery had been renamed as a Memorial Park and had also been taken into its city limits by the San Jose City Council.^[4]

Notable memorials

• John Beecher (1904–1980), poet and journalist
• James F. Boccardo (1911–2003), lawyer and philanthropist
• Sidney Dolores Bunce (1892–1965), British-born portrait artist
• Al Gould (1893–1982), Major League baseball player^[5]
• Steve Harwell (1967–2023), lead singer of the band Smash Mouth^[6]
• Bill Hewlett (1913–2001), co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company^[7]
• Clark Hobart (1868–1948), painter^[8]
• Alan Passaro, killer of Meredith Hunter Jr. (died 1985)
• Jason Jurman (1979–2014), actor^[9]
• Alice MacGowan (1858–1947), writer^[10]
• Fremont Older (1856–1935), newspaperman and editor^[7]
• Lillian McNeill Palmer (1871–1961), Arts and Crafts metalsmith
• Nathan Rosenberg (1927–2015), economist^[11]
• Emily Eolian Williams (1869–1942), architect^[12]
• Katka Zupančič (1889–1967), Slovene-American author and teacher^[13]
• Duong Trong Lam (died 1981), an assassinated Vietnamese journalist, was briefly buried at the cemetery in 1981, but his remains were removed by his father after anti-communist protests by the Vietnamese community.^[14]

Notes and References

1. https://www.losgatosmemorialpark.com/our-history "History"
2. George G. Bruntz, The History of Los Gatos: Gem of the Foothills (1971), p. 61: "December 9, 1889... Los Gatos Cemetery Association was incorporated with J. H. Lyndon, President, E. E. Dow, Vice - President..."
3. San Jose City Directory Including Santa Clara County (1901), p. 567: "... Los Gatos Cemetery, 21 miles e on Almaden rd LOS GATOS CEMETERY ASSOCIATION 567 EE Dow president"
4. Willys I. Peck, Saratoga Stereopticon: A Magic Lantern of Memory (1997), p. 14: "I recall covering the San Jose City Council meeting at which the Los Gatos Cemetery, now Memorial Park, was officially annexed, I presume as being uninhabited."
5. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/G/Pgoula101.htm "Al Gould's Stats"
6. https://amp.tmz.com/2023/10/02/smash-mouth-lead-singer-steve-harwell-cremated-public-memorial/ "SINGER STEVE HARWELL CREMATED... Memorial Open to Public"
7. https://www.metroactive.com/features/Famous-Graves.html "Beyond the Grave: The ultimate guide for the famous graves throughout the Santa Clara Valley"
8. "S.F. Artist Dies", Santa Rosa Republican, February 24, 1948, p. 10
9. https://www.mercurynews.com/obituaries/jason-jurman/ "Jason Jurman"
10. https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-gatos-times-saratoga-observer-obitua/127722406/ "Alice MacGowan, 87, Is Called By Death"
11. Kylie Jue, "Stanford professor emeritus of public policy, Nathan Rosenberg, dies at 87", stanforddaily.com, 7 September 2015, accessed November 20, 2024
12. "Death Claims Emily Williams, Noted Architect", Los Gatos Times, June 5, 1942; "E. Williams Passes Away. Rites Friday", Los Gatos Mail News, June 4, 1942
13. https://www.radio-odeon.com/novice/katka-zupancic-belokranjka-v-ameriskem-velemestu/ "Katka Zupančič – Belokranjka v ameriškem velemestu"
14. "Duong Trong Lam", Mother Jones, Feb/March 1983, p. 45