Warren Stirling stood in front of his family’s gravestones on Saturday, June 29, staring down at his great-great grandfather’s marker. Frederick J. Woodbury, or Captain Fred, was one of the founders of Altadena, as well as the one who planted the deodar cedars featured at the renowned Christmas Tree Lane.
To commemorate cleaning their 1,000th headstone, the “Good Cemetarians” honored the Woodbury family’s markers as a tribute to Altadena. Community activist René Amy collaborated with Mountain View’s Operations Manager Keith Brown to invite Jonathan Appell, founder of Atlas Preservation, to host a gravestone cleaning demonstration. The workshop took place on Wednesday, June 26, where participants learned about the different types of damage headstones could face and how to fix them.
While wobbling a 450-pound marble headstone that had come unmoored from its base, Appell spoke about how cemeteries have changed over the centuries. According to Brown and Appell, people had picnics at 19th century cemeteries to share stories about their loved ones. They would visit the family plots after church.
As the final resting place for those in the community, families and the various organizations they were involved with could stay connected through the generations. “We’re now at a critical point in the community and in the world where we have got to start to slow ourselves down and rejoin back together,” said Brown. “Let’s come back to the same foundation again.
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