Title Info: Western State Hospital Historic Patient Cemetery

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Introduction This database is an index to the Western State Hospital Patient Cemetery located in Fort Steilacoom Park in Pierce County, Washington.

There are 3,800 names listed.

For more information about this cemetery contact:
Grave Concerns Organization
c/o Western State Hospital
9601 Steilacoom Blvd. SW
Lakewood, WA 98498
253-761-7533
http:www.wshgraveconcerns.org/home.html

Transcription Notes:
This cemetery index was created using records located in the old hospital archives which consisted of photocopies of chronological listings of burials and a typed alphabetical list of names. Efforts to prepare an excel data sheet began in 2003 under the direction of Laurel Lemke when she served in the Ombudsman Office at Western State Hospital. When the state law was passed in 2004 allowing the disclosure of name, date of birth and date of death of persons in the cemetery, an additional year was spent looking through microfiche records to retrieve any possible birthdates in Western State Hospital Medical Records. Medical Records Department eventually assumed this research project.

The online database was created for the Grave Concerns Association by webmaster, Steve Desilets from the information that was collected between 2004 and 2005. The Grave Concerns Association website was funded by the Greater Puget Sound Consumer Coalition though the Washington State Mental Health Transformation Grant in 2009. Plans are to include available birth dates as well as additional information, including whether a marker has been replaced and photos of markers. The data base is dynamic; updated as information is received by persons doing genealogical research. Several families have corrected spelling and/or provided more accurate dates of birth.

Citation: Database: Grave Concerns Association-Western State Hospital Historic Patient Cemetery. ONLINE 2011. Washington Secretary of State. Cemetery database and transcription notes donated to the Washington State Digital Archives, September 09, 2010 by Grave Concerns Association.

Available: http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov