Cemetery district expects new gate to be complete by Memorial Day

The final part of an aesthetic upgrade at Tracy Public Cemetery is underway and will continue through at least the end of the month.

Tracy Public Cemetery District Manager Maylene Warner said that the project, approved last year by the cemetery district's board of trustees, has only the front gate along Schulte Road to be completed, with Memorial Day the target date for completion. This week a crew from PL Concrete Inc. was building the columns for a monument-style gate.

The cemetery is still open as construction continues on the gate.

Warner, whose mother, Alma Celaya, was the district manager for 30 years, said she can't remember the last time the cemetery fence got an upgrade. For many years a chain-link fence surrounded the cemetery.

"The board finally decided a couple of years ago to start upgrading the fence around the perimeter of the cemetery," Warner said, noting that wrought-iron style fence has already been installed and the gate is the finishing touch. "Technically it started in 2021 when they started putting the fence around the perimeter of the cemetery."

Tracy Public Cemetery is one of the oldest landmarks in town. The earliest headstones are close to MacArthur Drive and date back to the 1870's, with the earliest interment recorded in 1858, 11 years before the first railroad line was established in the area. The cemetery district website cites an article from the Tracy Press noting that "Two acres of land, a gift from railroad tycoon Charles Crocker, became the first Tracy cemetery in 1880."

The Tracy Cemetery Association incorporated on March 26, 1881, as a private non-profit organization and operated the cemetery until June 17, 1929, when the private association became a public entity, and the Tracy Public Cemetery District came into existence.

Last year the district board approved contracts with Pereira Industrial Construction and Maintenance, which is the general contractor for the perimeter fence and gate, as well as contracts with Steel Guard Fence Co., Tracy Grading and Paving and Silva Electric. The total cost of the project is about $350,000.

The project includes two gates, an entrance and an exit, with "Tracy Public Cemetery" emblazoned on an arch between the games, and "Schulte Memorial Park," as the cemetery is now known following the opening of Valpico Memorial Park in 2019, below the arch. Warner said the district is considering setting hours when the cemetery would be open to the public. Until now it has been open and accessible every day, at all hours.

"Right now it's going to be trial and error for about a month after the gates are done. We’ll see what the public says about the gate, because there's going to be a lot of people upset because the cemetery has been open to the public 24/7 for many, many years," Warner said.

Tentatively the hours will be 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day, including weekends. The office hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Warner added that the goal is to have the project complete by Memorial Day, which is when veterans groups come to the Little Arlington portion of the cemetery to honor local veterans buried at the cemetery and those Tracy residents who died while serving their country during wartime.

• Contact Bob Brownne at [email protected], or call 209-830-4227

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