A tribute to those who came before: A look into the features at Pioneer Memorial Park

By Megan Rogers Sequim Gazette • July 19, 2023 1:30 am
Sequim Gazette file photo by Emily Matthiessen / Priscilla Hudson of the Sequim Prairie Garden Club compiled a history of the club and Pioneer Memorial Park in Sequim with Laura Singer in which readers can find more information about the headstones clustered in the corner of the park, a reminder that the 4 acres was a cemetery at the turn of the 20th century.

To Priscilla Hudson, historian for the Sequim Prairie Garden Club (SPGC), many of the features at Pioneer Memorial Park represents the generations that came before us and the hardships they faced.

Here is a closer look at some of the park’s features of interest, though there are many others that locals and visitors alike can learn more about at the club’s 75th anniversary celebration, set for 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, at the park, 387 E. Washington St.

Cemetery

Before Pioneer Memorial Park became a park, it was known as the Sequim Cemetery, but they decided the area was to wet and closed the cemetery in 1919 and moved the deceased to a new location (Sequim View Cemetery) north of Sequim, according to Hudson and club records.

After the SPGC took over the park and started clearing it in 1951, Hudson said that club members would move the pieces of the broken tombstones left at the park to one corner.

“In the ’60s, they made a nice cement base and they cemented what good tombstones there were upright,” Hudson said.

In hopes of paying tribute to those who came before, Hudson said that she and six other volunteers started restoring these headstones that have started to wear with time.

“I want to pay honor to their labors,” Hudson said.

Sequim Gazette photo by Megan Rogers / Sequim Prairie Garden Club members are helping to restore the tombstones, featured here in a corner of the park.

According to Hudson, they have been working to piece back the broken headstones and repaint the parts that are fading.

SPGC member Rebecca Murphy said she wanted to help with the tombstones because she is interested in both history and cemeteries.

“These tombstones had been abandoned … maybe their families were no longer there,” Murphy said. “Under Priscilla’s guidance and the Restorer’s, we’re trying to give them some sense of dignity.”

Murphy said that one tombstone that really stood out to her was one that belonged to William H. Payne, who died at the age of 15 on May 26, 1904.

“I have a son he’s long past 15, but the heartbreak that goes into some of the stories that we don’t know here,” Murphy said. “It’s nice to be able to restore it and to do something to keep their memories alive.”

Waterfall

According to SPGC members and the Pioneer Memorial Park book, the members of the SPGC have been wanting a waterfall with pools, so they put together a committee in 1962 to look into the possibility and started a special savings account for it.

In 1965, Henry Lotzgesell donated the rest of the money the club needed and asked that the waterfall be dedicated to his wife, Hazel, who passed away, according to club records.

Sequim Gazette photo by Megan Rogers / Henry Lotzgesell donated money to the Sequim Prairie Garden Club in 1965 to help fund the building of the waterfall, which he dedicated to his late wife Hazel. The waterfall was later replaced.

“He decided he would ante up the rest of the money to have this beautiful waterfall and cascading pools,” Hudson said.

According to Hudson, about 10 to 12 years later, the waterfall started malfunctioning and had to be replaced.

“Behind the waterfall is lovely,” former SPGC president Vina Winters said.

“On the shady side, there’s a lovely Hosta garden. That looks really nice.”

ADA walking path

SPGC president Ellen Castleman is working on getting a grant so they can build an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) walkway so people can walk around the park instead of just on the street.

Castleman said that she is hopeful to get this project done in about three years, and while it is a big project, it will be good for the community.

“We want to enhance the community,” Castleman said. “We want people to have a good place to come and we have that, we’re just going to continue to improve our garden.”

About a year and a half ago, the club got a small ADA walkway leading to the pavilion that is located in the park. Winters said that a family suggested they build one because they had a child in a wheelchair who couldn’t access the pavilion.

“The older child could go up and play, and sit on the bench and she [the mother] couldn’t get the wheelchair [there],” Hudson said.

For more about the Sequim Prairie Garden Club, visit sequimprairiegardenclub.org.

Editor’s note — This is the third in a four-part series about the Sequim Prairie Garden Club and Pioneer Memorial Park. The club celebrates its 75th year in 2023, and invites the community to join them at an event to commemorate the milestone from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, at the park, 387 E. Washington St. The event will feature exhibits, live music, refreshments and a presentation from gardening guru Ciscoe Morris. — MD