Names not Numbers Remembering with Dignity replaces numbered

tombstones at St. Peter Regional Hospital

Cemetery with names, dates

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

ST. PETER -- The work in the old cemetery that overlooks St. Peter Regional Treatment Center is either finished or just starting; it depends upon whom you ask.

Former residents of Minnesota state hospitals and advocates for the disabled gathered Thursday for the dedication of granite headstones replacing some 800 numbered graves of former patients of the hospital. The new markers include the names of the deceased, date of birth and date of death.

The observance included a few short remarks, a couple songs and a poem. When the program ended, those who came dispersed throughout the cemetery and placed red and pink carnations on the grave stones. The new markers now give identities to people who were essentially warehoused in state facilities during times when mental illness and disabilities were misunderstood, and treatment was practically nonexistent.

For people like self-advocate Clifford Poetz of Minneapolis, the restoration of the cemetery closes a chapter in the history of people with disabilities. Poetz said he considers himself lucky his parents never sent him to a state institution.

Rodonna Freeman of New Ulm, a self-advocate and former resident of St. Peter and Faribault state hospitals, said she had "a good feeling to see people's names. I used to live here and it was really scary, but I'm proud to be a part of this project."

Roger Filzen of New Ulm found the grave of an old friend of his named Ralph. He remembered him from his days as a patient at what was then called the St. Peter State Hospital. Filzen was happy to know that Ralph's grave now bears his name instead of a number.

The occasion allowed Lyle Wright of St. James and other relatives to find the grave of his grandfather -- No. 153-- who was committed to St. Peter as insane after a severe accident with a horse in 1900 left him with severe brain damage.

"This was a good idea," Wright said of the project.

Self-advocates David Harris and Tom Black of St. Paul came for the ceremonies from a meeting in Mankato earlier that day. Harris' uncle lived in St. Peter after he was committed form emotional problems in the late 1960s. Harris, too, found his uncle's resting place Thursday.

"When I go to be buried I want my name," said Black. "We are human beings and we have names and we want to respect the people who are buried here."

But for Jim Fasset-Carman, community organizer for Affecting Change Together in St. Paul, the job is only a little bit closer to the end. His group has lobbied lawmakers for money to replace numbered and unmarked graves in the cemeteries of Minnesota's state hospitals in order to raise awareness of the history of the people who lived and died there since 1994. He said there are still 1,800 graves to go before St. Peter is finished.

"There's still a lot of work to do," he said. "And it's going to take a while."

The first phase of ACT's campaign, Remembering With Dignity, began in 1994 and got its big start in 1997 when the Legislature granted the group $200,000 to start work replacing headstones at Willmar and Faribault. ACT received an additional $250,000 in 2001 for similar work at Fergus Falls and St. Peter.

In addition to more funding for grave markers, ACT has also asked the Legislature for an apology. Poetz said no one was looking to sue the state -- all anyone wanted was an official apology for the treatment of the people who lived in Cambridge, St. Peter, Faribault, Fergus Falls, Moose Lake, Rochester and Willmar. He said Minnesota is the only state besides Pennsylvania that is adding named headstones to its state hospital cemeteries.

Sen. John Hottinger, DFL-St. Peter, said during a short speech that the ceremony is important because while patients were given treatment, they were too often forgotten and "buried without the respect every human being deserves."

Dorothy Anderson, a self-advocate in Chisago City, shared some of her experiences in Faribault during the ceremony. Anderson stayed in Minnesota's state hospital system until she turned 29, when she moved in with a foster family.

"I was scared when I moved out because (the hospital) was all I knew and I didn't know what it was like to be a part of a family," Anderson said.

She recalled Faribault State Hospital. There were no toys for kids to play with, no blankets to keep warm and children had to share clothes with each other. The days she spent on the wards were "endless and boring," she said.

When she was old enough, she got a job working in the hospital doing laundry, cleaning rooms and taking care of babies in the nursery for $1 a day.

These days, she lives in a home with three other adults. She has a job in a pet store taking care of the animals. She looks back on Faribault with mixed feelings and wouldn't want to go back again.

"I'm glad the people who lived and died here are now being remembered and they should not be forgotten," said Anderson.