NOTICE OF REDEDICATION:
In 2005, Bob Berrington (deceased) of Reno, NV. contributed photographs of the Northern
Nevada Adult Mental Health Services Cemetery. Those pictures showed a cemetery lacking any
upkeep and carried with it a terrible history of the treatment of the patients and
subsequent deaths and burials in the Asylum's cemetery, located in Spark, Nevada. You
can see Bob's pictures and view names of the deceased by going to the Tombstone Page,
http://usgwtombstones.org/nevada/nevada.html. Select Washoe County then scroll down to
the Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health cemetery section. Carolyn Mirich of Montana saw
those pictures and wanted to know where her Aunt was buried. Sadly, no record existed.
Carolyn spearheaded a drive to turn around the despicable conditions of the cemetery and
right all the wrongs that occurred to the inmates of that Asylum. In 2009, the Nevada
Legislature passed a bill designating the cemetery as an historical landmark. Since then,
many efforts have gone in!
to bringing the cemetery up to standards to respect the deceased. Much research by many
volunteers went into to determining who were or may have been buried in the cemetery. (At
last count, over 600 persons are known to have been buried in this cemetery. A child's
playground that had been built over part of the cemetery by the City of Sparks has now
been removed, and technology has been used to locate final burial places for the
deceased.
On January 11, 2011, the cemetery will be rededicated. The ceremony will take place at the
cemetery on 21st Street, between North and Hymer Avenues, in Sparks, Nevada. The ceremony
will take place between 2pm and 4 pm. Refreshments will be served immediately following
the ceremony at the Agriculture Building. The public is invited.
For further information, you can also visit the website of the Friends of Northern Nevada
Adult Mental Health Services Cemetery