Originally posted to the web in News, on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 12:35 PM CST.
Henry Wickenburg's grave exhumed?
By Janet DelTufo, Assistant Editor
The Wickenburg Historical and Conservation Society has received the approval of the Wickenburg Town Council to start looking into the possibility of exhuming town founder Henry Wickenburg's grave and relocating it to the Boetto House property.
The Society addressed the council earlier this week and asked permission to pursue the feasibility of exhuming all the graves from Henry Wickenburg's gravesite. There are currently five known graves at the site.
“My concern is that the neighbor adjacent to the current gravesite is putting his lot up for sale,” said Society representative Cindy Thrasher. “He is getting ready to dig out the bank and hoping to put a two story building there. Basically you are going to have a grave at the end of a cliff. All the graves should be moved to an area where they can command the respect and dignity they deserve.”
Thrasher told the council that she has received a favorable response to her proposal from both the Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce and the Desert Caballeros Western Museum. She said the new gravesite would contain a disclaimer alerting visitors to the fact that the graves had been moved.
The process of getting the graves moved is a long one. The Society will have to advertise its request for six months in periodicals chosen by The Arizona State Museum. The Arizona museum is currently moving 1,000 bodies from an old cemetery in Tucson to a new location.
Resident Nicki Hamilton told the council that the Wickenburg Funeral Home has said it would store the Wickenburg gravesite bodies at no charge during the transfer process.
Print this story
Email this story
|
