All Faiths Cemeteries Reburial Ceremony

On February 15, 2010, a ceremony was held to honor the first, and all subsequent reburials of individuals recovered from the civilian section of the Alameda-Stone Historic Cemetery. These individuals did not include those previously repatriated for reburial to the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. The reburial plot at All Faiths was laid out so that each individual would be reburied in the same spatial relationship as it was found relative to other burials when recovered from the Stone-Alameda Cemetery. Consequently, this reburial area replicates the spatial arrangement of burials in the Stone-Alameda Cemetery.

It was fitting that the first reburial at All Faiths was a child whose cultural affinity could not be determined. The reburial ceremony and the reburial of this child were symbolic for all the following reburials at All Faiths. Because of the large number of individuals, the reburial process was not completed until February 26, 2010.

Each individual was reburied separately, and each coffin was covered with a specially manufactured concrete liner to prevent future collapse and crushing of the remains. Once the reburials were completed, the plot was covered with sand and capped with natural rock.

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