Unmarked graves of former patients matched by Utah State Developmental Center staff in American Fork
Karen Mecham Johnson, center, passes Elaine Beal Cooper's, Mecham's cousin, headstone at the American Fork Cemetery on Monday, June 4, 2018, in American Fork. Cooper was a former resident of Utah State Developmental Center and was originally buried in an unmarked grave.
The headstone of Elaine Beal Cooper is pictured at the American Fork Cemetery on Monday, June 4, 2018, in American Fork.
Sarah Cottle, from Kaysville, touches Elaine Beal Cooper's headstone at the American Fork Cemetery on Monday, June 4, 2018, in American Fork. Cooper was Cottle's grandfather's cousin.
Sarah Cottle, from Kaysville, holds Elaine Beal Cooper's official documents at the American Fork Cemetery on Monday, June 4, 2018, in American Fork.
A crowd gathers to celebrate the life of Elaine Beal Cooper at the American Fork Cemetery on Monday, June 4, 2018, in American Fork. Cooper was originally buried in an unmarked grave, but recently received a headstone at the cemetery.
Guy Thompson, the superintendent of the Utah State Developmental Center, addresses the crowd at the new headstone for Elaine Beal Cooper at the American Fork Cementary on Monday, June 4, 2018, in American Fork.
Shauna Bradley, archive technician with the Utah State Developmental Center, addresses the crowd near the new headstone for Elaine Beal Cooper at the American Fork Cemetery on Monday, June 4, 2018, in American Fork.
Karen Mecham Johnson, left, addresses the attendees of the ceremony for Elaine Beal Johnson, as her brothers, Crosby Mecham, center, and Sam Mecham, right, listen at the American Fork Cemetery on Monday, June 4, 2018, in American Fork.
Representatives of the Utah State Developmental Center and a few family members held a small memorial service Monday morning for a toddler who has been dead since 1937.
Elaine Beal Cooper was born in 1936. She was a resident of the Utah Training School — as the Utah State Developmental Center was known then — for nine months. She only lived for 21 months before dying from complications with pneumonia in December of 1937. Elaine’s small body was buried in American Fork Cemetery without a headstone to note her passing, and over the years, she was forgotten.
Shauna Bradley, archive technician with the Utah State Developmental Center, recently found Elaine, matching up her name, birth and death records with old patient records. In her research, Bradley found some of Elaine’s living relatives and contacted them.
“We had no idea we had a cousin buried here. It was such a shock,” said Karen Johnson, while attending Elaine’s memorial service Monday with her brothers, Sam and Crosby Mecham.
From what they’ve been able to piece together, Elaine was born to an unwed mother. Their uncle, William Mecham, was Elaine’s father, and he later married and had children. In her later years, his wife (who would technically be Elaine’s step-mother) spoke of another child the cousins didn’t know about. Because she was suffering from Alzheimer’s at the time, the family didn’t know who she was talking about. Elaine was not spoken of in the Mecham family while Johnson and her brothers were growing up.
“Back then, it was so hush hush when someone was pregnant out of wedlock. Everybody that knew about her has passed on,” Johnson said.
“Our parents may not have been aware of it at all,” Sam Mecham said.
“If mom would’ve known, she would’ve been up here putting flowers on the grave,” Johnson added.
Through local fundraising efforts, USDC staff and local companies coordinated to recently place a small grave marker on Elaine’s grave site.
According to Amy Lewis, USDC record support staff supervisor, Monday’s memorial service also spotlighted society’s acceptance of individuals with disabilities, by highlighting an era where family connections, community involvement and acceptance of these individuals were not as prevalent they fortunately are today.
Bradley and a team of archive technicians started researching unmarked graves of former patients about a year ago, after seeing a newspaper article about the 1997 discovery of 22 unmarked graves of former USDC residents buried in American Fork Cemetery without markers. This piqued the staff’s interest, and they started to research USDC records, cemetery information and death records.
“We’re glad to remember these people who would not be remembered without this staff,” said Guy Thompson, USDC superintendent.
In addition to Elaine’s grave, the team identified and located five additional sites in American Fork Cemetery, Lewis said. The team believes there are also former USDC patients in unmarked graves in Lehi, Alpine, and Pleasant Grove. As part of their Forgotten Angel project, they are still working to match up where these former patients are buried so they can do fundraising for grave markers.
“A lot of the families then didn’t have the money, or the state didn’t have the money, for a marker. Our goal is to find as many as we can, do fundraisers for them, and get them all markers,” Bradley said, standing near Elaine’s grave.
Though she never knew Elaine, Bradley said she felt very blessed to be a small part of Elaine’s short life, and give her back to the Mecham family.
“Elaine has been gone for 80 years, five months and seven days, but today she will never be forgotten again,” Bradley said.
