Willowbrook Cemetery

Willowbrook Cemetery, at 395 Main Street (Route 57), Westport, Connecticut was established in 1847. Willowbrook was originally laid out by landscape artist, David Bates Douglass. Douglass created Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, famous for its innovative and tranquil park-like setting. Douglass died while Willowbrook was still under construction, and the project was finished by famous landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. (Olmsted designed, among many other projects, New York's Central Park, Boston's Back Bay Fens, Niagara Falls State Park, and both Beardsley and Seaside Parks in Bridgeport, CT. He was also the landscape architect responsible for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, or World's Fair.) Willowbrook contains some of the most unusual memorials in the area.

Estimated number of interments, as of January 2024: at least 6264.

Photos taken 16 March 2010.

Some notable residents of Willowbrook include:

Edward Huntington Coley

(22 August 1861 - 6 June 1949), Bishop of Central New York.

James Earle Fraser

(4 November 1876 - 11 October 1953), a sculptor who designed the Indian head buffalo nickel (1913), the Navy Cross and World War I victory medals. In 1919, he received the Saltus Medal art award and in 1952 he was awarded the Century Association Medal of Honor and the National Sculpture Society Medal of Honor. One of his pieces, "The End of the Trail" of a weary Indian slumping on his horse, is one the most reproduced works of art of all time. His statues and monuments include Alexander Hamilton at the Department of Commerce Building, Washington, D.C.; "Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark" at the Missouri State Capitol; the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in Philadelphia; Robert Todd Lincoln's Sarcophagus and the William Howard Taft Monument, both in Arlington National Cemetery.

Laura Fraser

(14 September 1889 - 13 August 1966), sculptor who designed a number of coins (and James Earle Fraser's wife).

Alexander Kipnis

(1 February 1891 - 14 May 1978), opera singer (bass) who performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at other prestigious opera houses throughout the world.

Josiah Marean

(30 April 1844 - 8 February 1922), a New York State Supreme Court Justice. (Marean's monument is shown later on the page.)

Fritz Reiner

(19 December 1888 - 15 November 1963), orchestra conductor who helmed the Cincinnati Symphony, the Philadelphia Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestras. Reiner was a student of Bela Bartok and he taught Leonard Bernstein.

Walter Langer "Baron" von Langendorff

(died 1983), who created the perfume, "White Shoulders", in 1940, and introduced a cologne for men, "The Baron", in 1965. He also founded Evyan Perfumes, a New York-based fragrance manufacturer. (Von Langendorff's mausoleum is pictured at the bottom of the page.)

Mort Walker

(3 September 1923 - 27 January 2018), cartoonist responsible for the comic strips, "Beetle Bailey" and "Hi and Lois".

"Whoever hath God with him 

reposeth quietly

Frederick Wm. Dau

Natus May 7, 1870 - Obiit Sept. 19, 1963

Sadon Giblyn Dau

Nata Feb. 19, 1887 - Obiit Mar. 23, 1960"

"Erected by the Arab Patrol of Mecca Temple A.A.O.N.M.S. [Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine] of New York City to the Memory of William E. Duncan 1865 - 1915" 

"Thou hast made us for thyself and our heart shall never be at rest until at last it rests in thee."

Warren / Bedford mausoleum

Lars-Eric Lindblad

1927 - 1994

Ruriko Hosaka Lindblad

1947 -

Lars-Eric Lindblad was a Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer, who pioneered tourism to remote and exotic parts of the world. He led the first tourist expedition to Antarctica in 1966 and for many years operated his own vessel, MS Lindblad Explorer, in the region. The MS Lindblad Explorer (later re-named MV Explorer) 1969 expeditionary cruise to Antarctica basically opened the area for sea tourism. MV Explorer was the first cruise ship to navigate the Northwest Passage in 1984. The ship served for almost 40 years, until 2007, when it struck an iceberg and sank in Antarctica. Fortunately, all crew and passengers (154 people) were effectively evacuated in lifeboats and rescued by other vessels. (The blame was placed on the captain, who knowingly entered an ice field at night.) (Information thanks to Wikipedia and Oceanliner Designs.)

Holman memorial:

Guy Holman, 1888 - 1946

Elizabeth Wright Holman, 1888 - 1950

Margaret Black Holman 1893 - 1936

Guy Holman (son of Guy and

Margaret) 1921 - 1994

"Harold Jacoby

March 4 1865

July 20 1932

Astronomer, Columbia University

Annie Maclear Jacoby

May 3 1868

July 31 1945

Grannie Annie"

"Josiah Taylor Marean

1844 - 1922

Justice Supreme Court New York State

Elizabeth Richards Marean Coursen

1848 - 1931"

Ricky Dale Burnsed

Born May 26, 1953

Died December 17, 1988

"This earth is neither the beginning nor the end. No Soul is ever lost. Those whom God loves die young."

The book on top reads: "There is no death what we call death is but surcease from strife They do not die whom we call dead They go from life to life"

Roman Henry Heyn (Feb. 18, 1882 -

Nov. 20, 1942)

Gertrude Hotchkiss Heyn

(Oct. 31, 1890 - Aug. 19, 1960)

Julia Snowdon Hotchkiss, daughter of

Charles and Hannah More Jessup

(Jan. 24, 1863 - Mar. 13, 1942)

Walter Langer "Baron" von Langendorff's mausoleum, the largest in Willowbrook - "Golden Shadows". For more information on von Langendorff, read his entry at the top of the page. 

All photos copyright by the author, 2010. Not to be used or reproduced without permission.

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