Wanting an explore, and a history lesson, before the rains come, we headed to the pastoral town of Bodega, an interesting place not only to visit, but to lie in eternal rest it turns out.
In 1869, the first burial took place in a hillside cemetery that rises above rural Bodega Highway just west of the town. That interment mourned the death of a 7-year-old boy named Thomas Johnson.Since then, members of the Bodega area’s pioneering and leading families have been buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery - Albinis, Colombos, Fitzpatricks, Franceschis, Furlongs, Gleasons, Gonnellas, O’Farrells, Pozzis, Stumps and others.This is the gravemarker for the second little boy buried here, in 1869, five year old Willie Long.The O’Farrells include the Irish immigrant who once was the richest man in Sonoma County. Jasper O’Farrell, who worked as the first land surveyor for San Francisco before Sonoma County voters elected him to the state Senate, died in 1875. The graveyard in which he lies sometimes is called St. Teresa’s Cemetery because of its connection to the town’s classic Catholic church, St. Teresa of Avila, made famous around the world by its cameo in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film, The Birds. I did a blog about Hitchcock on our previous visit to this darling, little town.Some of its most moving headstones honor children.. Adam John Sumner, born the same month as me, did not survive a decade. So sad. The inscription reads, "Take heart mom I am near, just drop a tear, or two; but speak and I will hear, doubt not I wait for you."Nicholas Green is also here. If you recall, he was the seven year old American boy (from Bodega) on holiday in Italy who was shot during an attempted robbery in 1994. The killing became a worldwide news event when his parents donated their son's organs to seven very sick Italians, four of them teenagers. This incredible act of forgiveness, and generosity, changed the way organ donations were viewed in Italy. So interesting, all of it.
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