Washington Park Cemetery

Berkeley,Missouri

Washington Park Cemetery, Berkeley, Missouri, is owned in part by Amazing Grace Enterprises, LLC, and also by Washington Park Cemetery-Berkeley, Inc., a 501(C)(3) Not-for-Profit Corporation. This is the "official" owners' web site for the Cemetery.

 

There are government and unaffiliated third party sites concerning the Cemetery.  Other web sites, if soliciting money for the Cemetery, do not provide the Owners with regular accountings regarding funds collected, or how those funds are spent. Third parties have made some improvements to the Cemetery, but many without approval of, or direction from, the  Owners of the Cemetery.

 

The Cemetery was abandoned in the mid 1980's, and does not have historical trust funds for maintenance, nor any income from sales of burial plots. Maintenance is performed by volunteers.

​

​

Much has been said about the condition of the Cemetery, with old photos showing over grown grave sites and other pre-2026 problems. Since 2021, material improvements have been made to the Cemetery, which continue. Rather than focusing on the bad, this site intends to reflect on the improvements and ongoing reclamation of the Cemetery.  

​

We have recently learned that (1) Miles Davis' father, Miles Davis, Sr., (2) Josephine Baker's grandmother, who raised Josephine in St Louis, and (3) Robert Rayford, the first person in the United States diagnosed with AIDS, are buried at the Cemetery. Grandmother Baker's plot has been located but does not have a gravestone. Robert Rayford's plot has not yet been located, but the section where he was buried is known. Miles Davis, Sr.'s plot has a grave stone. 

​

We wish to acknowledge Mr. Walter Rice, whose wife and other relatives are buried at the Cemetery. For over twenty years, Mr. Rice has dedicated substantial amounts of his military pension to reconstruction of the inner roadway accessing his wife and family members grave sites, and toward substantial landscaping improvement at the Cemetery. We have named the road he paid to reconstruct, "Rice Lane," in his honor.

​

We also wish to acknowledge Mr. Daniel Newman, who has no relatives buried at the Cemetery, yet has devoted over ten years of weekly landscaping services to the Cemetery. Mr. Newman is also the lead volunteer relied upon to locate grave sites for visitors. 

​

Finally, we wish to acknowledge Mr. Kevin Bailey.  Mr. Bailey assumed indirect ownership of the Cemetery through Amazing Grace Enterprises, when it had over $400,000 of delinquent real estate taxes levied against it, and no income. The Cemetery was a massive liability due to threatened fines and other issues resulting from its abandoned condition. Through Kevin's efforts, the back real estate tax delinquency has been resolved, and real estate taxes are current. In addition, Kevin has contributed tens of thousands of dollars toward the maintenance of the Cemetery, purchasing equipment and paying for landscaping. No individual has contributed more to the Cemetery in the last fifteen years than Mr. Bailey.

​

​

​

​