18th Annual John Bagoy Memorial Summer Solstice Cemetery Tour
When: Thursday, June 21, 2012, 7:00 pm
Where: Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, John Bagoy Gate, 7th and Cordova Streets
Hosts: Audrey and Bruce Kelly
Where: Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, John Bagoy Gate, 7th and Cordova Streets
Hosts: Audrey and Bruce Kelly
The Anchorage Cemetery was established in 1915 by presidential proclamation and is the only place within the original townsite designated for burials. John Bagoy was only 18 years old in 1940 when his father, John Bagoy Sr., died and was buried at the Anchorage Cemetery. By that time the cemetery grounds were overgrown and the Athabascan “spirit houses” used in Native burials were beginning to collapse. To mark the plot selected for John Bagoy Sr., John’s mother, Marie, planted a small chokecherry tree near the foot of the gravesite. This helped to offset the effect of the deteriorating cemetery grounds.
While the chokecherry tree planted by John's mother grew into a beautiful marker for the Bagoy family plot by the 1950s the rest of the cemetery had fallen further into disrepair. Half of the plots were sinking, the wire fence along Sixth Avenue had toppled over and many gravesite markers were missing. That was the year John Bagoy became an activist for the cemetery. His first act was to successfully lobby for the return of the cemetery tracts previously sold by the city in 1951 for public housing. This brought the cemetery back to the size decreed in the original town charter.
Next John worked to identify the unmarked graves in the Catholic section. He argued for historic recognition of the grounds and in 1993 the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery was listed in the National Register for Historic Places. Through 15 years of research John and former cemetery director Don Warden located and identified almost 3000 previously unmarked graves.
“There’s a lot of Anchorage out there” John Bagoy frequently stated and people in Anchorage became curious about exactly who was buried in the cemetery. John was more than willing to tell them. He led the first Summer Solstice Tour in 1995 in co-operation with Cook Inlet Historical Society and lead tours annually until his death in 2005. A memorial honoring his work was dedicated by the Society in 2003 and can be seen at the entrance of the Cemetery, located at Seventh Avenue and Cordova Street. The John Bagoy Gate, proclamed by the Anchorage Assembly, is where the Summer Solstice Tour begins. The chokecherry tree planted by Marie Bagoy in 1940 remains a majestic marker for the Bagoy family plots where John Bagoy lies today.
While the chokecherry tree planted by John's mother grew into a beautiful marker for the Bagoy family plot by the 1950s the rest of the cemetery had fallen further into disrepair. Half of the plots were sinking, the wire fence along Sixth Avenue had toppled over and many gravesite markers were missing. That was the year John Bagoy became an activist for the cemetery. His first act was to successfully lobby for the return of the cemetery tracts previously sold by the city in 1951 for public housing. This brought the cemetery back to the size decreed in the original town charter.
Next John worked to identify the unmarked graves in the Catholic section. He argued for historic recognition of the grounds and in 1993 the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery was listed in the National Register for Historic Places. Through 15 years of research John and former cemetery director Don Warden located and identified almost 3000 previously unmarked graves.
“There’s a lot of Anchorage out there” John Bagoy frequently stated and people in Anchorage became curious about exactly who was buried in the cemetery. John was more than willing to tell them. He led the first Summer Solstice Tour in 1995 in co-operation with Cook Inlet Historical Society and lead tours annually until his death in 2005. A memorial honoring his work was dedicated by the Society in 2003 and can be seen at the entrance of the Cemetery, located at Seventh Avenue and Cordova Street. The John Bagoy Gate, proclamed by the Anchorage Assembly, is where the Summer Solstice Tour begins. The chokecherry tree planted by Marie Bagoy in 1940 remains a majestic marker for the Bagoy family plots where John Bagoy lies today.
Co-Sponsors: Cook Inlet Historical Society and Anchorage Historic Properties, Inc.
