New marker at Stockley Center's Sussex Cemetery

Hundreds of graves spread out over a quiet, woods-edged corner of the Stockley Center property southeast of Georgetown. One section of this unheralded cemetery contains the remains of people who died while residing at the center. Since 1921, Stockley has served the needs of Delawareans with mental disabilities.

A newer section of the graveyard is the final resting place for poor and unidentified people who had no families or friends, nor anyone who could afford to make arrangements for their burials elsewhere. Such cemeteries are often called potter's fields, as first mentioned in the Bible book of Matthew, chapter 27, verse 7.

On Nov. 17, state and Stockley officials gathered at the site to dedicate a new monument for the Sussex County Cemetery. A small crowd listened to prayer, song and words, recalling the lives and spirits of those interred in this unpretentious patch of Delmarva, bringing dignity and connection, reminding all of the fleeting nature of existence.

Rita Landgraf, secretary of Delaware's Department of Health and Social Services, spoke at the brief ceremony. "This is our state's lasting commitment that these people will not be forgotten. Each of them is someone's son or daughter, sister or brother. It's our responsibility that these grounds remain a place of honor. This stone means that, and it is one way of bringing more love, respect and compassion into our world."

The tall, unpretentious granite monument just outside the fence of the cemetery lists the names of 156 people buried there. More are added each month, referred here by people who contact other state agencies, including police and social workers. In all, the cemetery holds the graves of 162 people since it was first established in the early 1960s.

Adele Mears Wemlinger, director of the Stockley Center, said the pace of burials has picked up in recent years, possibly, she speculated, due to a tough economy. "We've been seeing as many as three burials a month," she said.

Sarah Tapman, who works in the kitchen at Stockley, attended the ceremony in remembrance of a nephew buried there.  "He died a horrible death," she said.

Now, however, he rests quietly in this peaceful place in Sussex, accompanied most of the time by only the deer that occasionally wander out of the woods, the buzzards and hawks that wheel in the sky above, and the clouds of summer and winter that show no preference for rich or poor.