Input sought on renovation of cemetery

Darrell Salvador remembers the beauty of Sunset Memorial Park from many years ago as a child — a well-maintained Pearl City cemetery with no overgrown grass or weeds.

On a recent visit he pointed out an area on the 4-acre property where children were buried that used to be surrounded by a small hedge. There was a statue with a mother holding a baby and a lamb nearby.

He says that statue was stolen. The hedge is gone. The overgrown grass and weeds are so thick that they can cover burial plots. Urns were stolen. Homeless individuals live on the property. There is no running water. The road that runs through the property is covered with potholes. Bags of trash are piled on the side of the road. The list goes on.

“It’s sad it’s come this far,” said Salvador, who has five generations of family members buried at Sunset Memorial. “I remember how pretty it was before.”

But Salvador, 55, says all hope is not lost. He and a group of volunteers have been leading a community effort to repair and maintain the cemetery, on 4th Street, for the past two years. The goal is to form a nonprofit through which volunteers can help with repairs and collect donations.

To jump-start the plans, the Pearl City Neighborhood Board is holding a special meeting at 1 p.m. today at Waiau District Park, 98-1650 Kaahumanu St. The goal is to find volunteers and family members who have loved ones at the cemetery who are willing to help and gather feedback on what the community wants to see at Sunset Memorial.

“We just can’t continue to let things fester and wait another year,” said Larry Veray, neighborhood board chairman. “I want to let everybody have a chance to talk before we do anything. We need to have a coordinated effort.”

Veray said he invited several state and city officials and called about 60 family members and residents who expressed interest in improving Sunset Memorial. Catherine Awakuni Colon, director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, is also expected to attend. The department has been assisting in identifying some of the burial plots and with other issues. Veray encouraged anyone interested in helping or learning more about the community effort to attend the meeting.

Salvador, who is funeral director of nearby Leeward Funeral Home, which operates independently from Sunset Memorial, said some ideas he has are to demolish an old, damaged structure on the property; help the homeless living there relocate; build a fence around the cemetery’s perimeter to improve safety; fix the water pipes; cut down all the overgrown grass and weeds; and repave the road.

He had said he is working with the cemetery manager to sign an indemnity agreement to shield volunteers from liability while they make improvements. He also said they plan to hold a blessing ceremony at the cemetery next month and start repair work the following week.

“We’re dealing with people’s emotions and family members. We want to do it right,” Salvador said. “I believe with the right people and the right attitude, this place will be pretty again.”

Sunset Memorial is registered to the Hawaiian Cemetery Association Ltd. with Ginichi Iwaoka listed as director and president. Salvador said Iwaoka was the owner, but when he died the responsibility to manage the cemetery fell on a friend, who has tried to maintain the property with no paid workers.

The cemetery’s license expired in 1995, and it owes about $17,000 in property taxes, according to state and city records. There is a cemetery trust fund with about $200,000.

Concerns and frustrations about the cemetery’s dilapidated conditions prompted the Pearl City Neighborhood Board to hold a community meeting in October 2015. At that time there was support to form a volunteer board called the Friends of Sunset Memorial Park to oversee the property’s maintenance and repairs. But the group would not be responsible for burial plot ownership or other legal issues.

A bill that sought to improve conditions at the cemetery failed to pass the state Legislature in the past two years. The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Gregg Takayama (D, Pearl City-­Waimalu-Pacific Palisades), would have shielded volunteers and nonprofits from liability for maintaining cemetery grounds and required the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Department to develop short- and long-term strategies for Sunset Memorial’s repair and maintenance. The bill died at the last minute when it was not scheduled for a conference committee meeting before a key deadline in April.

“I’m very optimistic and positive that it will look nice,” said Salvador, a member of Friends of Sunset Memorial Park. “It has to look nice.”