About Us

Origin of the Toledo State Hospital Cemetery Reclamation Project

Founding member, Larry Wanucha, attended an Ohio Advocates for Mental Health (OAMH) conference in Columbus in the fall of 2005.  Larry Fricks, a consumer adovate from Georgia, began the seminar on medicaid reimbursement of peer support activities by talking about The Georgia State Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project. That project successfully restored six neglected cemeteries on state hospital grounds where up to 30,000 of our brothers and sisters were interred making it, perhaps, the largest graveyard for persons with disability in the world. Wondering whether Toledo had any state hospital cemeteries, Mr. Wanucha, together with a small group of consumers and volunteers began asking questions of local residents, employees of area agencies, and staff of University of Toledo (UT) Medical Science campus. Two cemeteries were identified on former state hospital grounds now owned by UT.  Soon tours of the cemeteries were being organized, and people committed to correcting the injustice of years of neglect in the state hospital cemeteries were gathering.  The Toledo State Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project Committee (TSHCRC) now operates under the NAMI of Greater Toledo umbrella, meeting every 2nd Tuesday of the month at Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital (NOPH - the newest name for Toledo State Hospital).

Vision

To advocate for Toledo State Hospital cemeteries, assuring that all interred there are treated with honor, dignity & respect.

Mission

To provide long-term stewardship for the Toledo State Hospital cemeteries and to work with the University of Toledo to restore honor and dignity to those buried there.

Objectives

To establish a memorial site

To promote community awareness of the cemeteries

To reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues through community education

To build and maintain a strong relationship with the University of Toledo, which owns the cemeteries

To serve as advocates and give a voice to descendents of those interred.

 

Committee Members

Larry Wanucha

Jane Weber

Sharon Yaros

Kimberly Brownlee

Henry  Hartford

Clara Hartford

Elizabeth Stone

Lillian Harris

Marianne Huff

Andrew McSweeny

Carol Nagy

Joe A.

Kathy Smith

Aretta Adams

Marci Dvorak

Paul Fletcher

Jill Little

Sue Conda

Mike Young

Christopher Klueter

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Location of Cemeteries