Bishop seeks to revitalize Woodlawn Memorial Park - Los Angeles Sentinel

Once abandoned and overgrown with weeds, Compton's historic cemetery looks much better thanks to Celestina Bishop and OSAAT

Last year on Mother's Day, Celestina Bishop visited the gravesites of her mother, sisters and grandmother. Her loved ones were buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Compton.

Bishop's worship never took place, however, because the cemetery gate was chained shut. At first unsettled, she jumped over the fence and fell into the trash, debris, and discarded items that filled the area.

Faced with such blatant disrespect for her relatives' remains, Bishop was emotionally distraught, but instead of bursting into tears, she set about restoring the site. Today, she heads the nonprofit organization that owns the cemetery and is committed to renovating other memorial parks that have fallen into disrepair.

"My organization, One Section At A Time, was incorporated on June 12, 2020, just six weeks after I arrived at Woodlawn Memorial Park on May 10 to visit my mother, sisters and grandmother," said Bishop, who outlined the group's mission as "restoring honor and dignity to Woodlawn," keeping the gates open for family members and others to visit the cemetery, and promoting the cemetery's historical value and contributions.

Explaining the reasons for her action, Bishop noted, "At first, I was stunned that the site of my family's final resting place had become an abandoned lot, overgrown with weeds, littered with trash, occupied by homeless encampments, dead and feral animals.

"I tried to understand how a sacred place meant to honor the memory and lives of our loved ones could fall into such despair," she recalls. Searching for answers, Bishop investigated and learned that the owner had lost his license and closed Woodlawn. In addition, although the cemetery had become an unsightly and dangerous place, no local or state organization had taken on the task of cleaning it up, and it stopped accepting burials in 2011.

According to Bishop, "The fact that the site was littered with garbage left me no chance. As they say, if you want something done, do it yourself".

And she set to work cleaning up the area, as well as enlisting others to volunteer. Bishop organized a "Justice for Woodlawn" event, inviting those whose relatives are buried at Woodlawn and all residents to help clean up the area. Frank Wilson, a Compton native, was among those who lent a helping hand.

"My ancestors were some of the first [residents] of Compton and some of the first to be buried here. I have great-great-grandparents and great-grandparents and all kinds of aunts and uncles here. I've been coming to Woodlawn for decades. I didn't come for a while after I retired, but I came last year and saw how bad it was and started helping Celestina," said Wilson, who also serves on OSAAT's board of directors.

Volunteers have removed all trash and junk littering the area and are working to level the ground, which has become uneven due to lack of water and nutritious soil. On October 19, OSAAT paid off the tax debt for Woodlawn and the owner deeded the cemetery to the organization. Now with the deed in hand, the OSAAT team will focus on organizing official burial records for Woodlawn, securing the cemetery's historic status and raising funds to maintain the property.

Woodlawn is full, so new burials are not possible, but the nonprofit wants to continue operating the site so people can visit the graves of loved ones or hold memorial ceremonies for family and friends. Wilson said a family from Las Vegas came here last week and stayed for nearly three hours, "singing and telling their kids about their grandmother." OSAAT will provide chairs, tables and tents for gatherings of 10 people or more.

"We want everyone to have a good experience visiting Woodlawn, especially since it has been sabotaged for so many years. A lot of people are just now finding out it's open, so we want to make sure they feel comfortable during their grieving process, because visiting the final resting place is part of the grieving process," Bishop said.

In addition to being a place of comfort in times of grief, Woodlawn also holds a lot of history. The oldest headstone points to the passing of Abigail Stockwell in 1871. The cemetery also contains the remains of many of Compton's earliest settlers and prominent figures from later eras.

"Among them is Assemblymember Carly W. Porter, who has been called the 'father of water legislation' and one of the first fighters against water pollution," Bishop shared. "Also present are Francis Townsend, who created the 'Townsend Plan' to fight elderly poverty in the U.S., and George Decker, known as 'Gentleman George' and considered one of the best first basemen of the 1890s."

Judy Washback, an OSAAT volunteer and historian for the group, listed some of the notable African Americans buried at Woodlawn, including Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter, a community activist and co-founder of the Southern California chapter of the Black Panthers; Freeman Davis, a 1940s-50s whistle and dice performer known as "Brother Bones," whose song "Sweet Georgia Brown" was adopted as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters; Theolic Smith, a Negro League baseball pitcher who earned the nickname "Fireball" for his scalding fastball; and Paralee Coleman, a child actress who appeared in short films from 1926 to 1937, including as Plevrisi in Our Gang's "Little Rascals."

While Bishop and the OSAAT team are deeply committed to the revitalization of Woodlawn Memorial Park, the project's continued success depends on the efforts of volunteers and the ability to attract ongoing funding to maintain the memorial park. She estimates that her family has invested about $275,000 to date to cover cleaning, repair and maintenance costs, but she hopes to implement community engagement and giving back programs to attract potential donors.

"Local companies such as California Pest Management and RDO Equipment provided resources, services and equipment. In addition, individual donations through GoFundMe have helped pay for taxes," she said. "But we need to create additional, stable sources of funding through grants, corporate and sponsoring organizations."

Despite the challenges, Bishop remains optimistic and believes the goals she has set will be accomplished. "We were able to bring joy to family members by restoring and transforming Woodlawn," she said. To succeed in the future, Bishop said she will be guided by Winston Churchill's words, "Never give up. Never surrender except to convictions of honor and common sense."