As earth is moved at Ojai Valley cemetery, relatives of the dead worry

Relatives of the dead buried at St. Thomas Aquinas Cemetery outside Ojai want answers after workers moved mounds of dirt and removed a cross that marked graves earlier this month.

They want to make sure a restoration project doesn't inadvertently disturb remains. The small Catholic cemetery has been inactive for decades and may not have a full roster of everyone buried there.

"There may be remains inside these mounds of dirt," said Michael Chapman, who has relatives buried on the grounds. "This is why I'm not backing down."

The site, at 600 E. Villanova Road near Villanova Preparatory School, is currently closed to the public. On a recent weekday, idle construction vehicles and dirt piles edging graded areas could be seen from outside the locked gates.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which owns the facility, had moved the dirt and wood cross to construct a columbarium and parking lot, although work has halted for now. The archdiocese, which owns the 2-acre property, said the cross was temporarily taken down on Sept. 5 as part of the restoration effort.

Ventura County Supervisor Matt LaVere, after hearing concerns from Chapman and others, had the county issue a stop-work order.

"I thought, 'We've got to get to the bottom of this before a potential desecration,'" LaVere said.

Many of those buried on the grounds attended the precursor to what's now the Ojai Valley's St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, which was previously a chapel.

The wood cross marked the location of relatives of Chapman and his mother, Catherine Gutierrez. Maria De Gutierrez, who died in 1933, is the grandmother of Gutierrez and great-grandmother of Chapman. Martin Edward Gutierrez, who died in 1937, is Gutierrez's uncle and Chapman's great-uncle. The cross marked both graves.

Chapman and Gutierrez, who live in Ventura, want more questions answered before the project restarts. They, other family members and concerned community members were at the site on Sept. 8 trying to determine their next course of action.

"It's asinine to me," said Gutierrez, who added the family was not notified about the project.

“There's people buried under everything you're unearthing,” Chapman said.

Mark Tovar, who lives near the cemetery and had posted his photos and videos of the construction to social media, said he wants an archeologist or indigenous monitor on site as the work takes place.

Upgrades in progress

It's unclear when the last burial was held at the cemetery, which has been inactive since the 1930s or 1940s, said Adrian Alarcon, a spokesperson for the archdiocese.

"Nobody really has any records or information about this cemetery," Alarcon said. "It's a very unique situation."

In 1912, the property was deeded to the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles by William Kerfoot, Alarcon said. Initially, the family buried their relatives and other Catholics at the cemetery.

The new project underway to add a columbarium — a building to hold ashes — also includes walkways and landscaping.

The columbarium will have 48 units, with some accommodating two burials, Alarcon said. There is no timeline for when the space will open, she said.

St. Thomas Aquinas parish members had requested construction of the columbarium for several years, she said, because other locations in Oxnard and Santa Barbara are too far away.

The cross is being refreshed and will be reinstalled in its original form and location, the archdiocese said in an emailed statement. "It was never our intention to remove the cross permanently," officials wrote.

No graves will be relocated as part of the process. The archdiocese said it would "take appropriate measures as we proceed to ensure that human remains are not disturbed or impacted by the restoration."

All dirt and rocks will remain at the cemetery, officials said.

Work halted

On Sept. 5, county planners issued an indefinite stop-work order for the project after an emergency meeting with staff from the county planning department.

The supervisor learned about the issue on the morning of Sept. 3.

"My phone and email started getting flooded with concerns and complaints about what was going on at the cemetery," LaVere said.

After learning the archdiocese owned the property, LaVere said, an analysis of a 2020 county planning document confirmed approval of the work. The document included protection measures for gravesites, headstones and some sacred areas for families who have forebears buried there.

A grading permit for work to be completed on the site, however, didn't have the same protections.

"That was the confusion," LaVere said.

The archdiocese agreed to stop construction and county officials are now in communication with them and affected residents to make sure the work will be done in the proper location, he said.

No remains have been disturbed "as far as I know," LaVere said, but "obviously, we'll want to confirm."

Church officials want community members to reach out with historical information, records or photos of people buried at the cemetery, Alarcon said. To do so, email contact@catholiccm.org or call 213-657-7815.

Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Relatives of dead worry as earth is moved at Ojai Valley cemetery