COOS BAY: Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery | Ocean View Memory Gardens Service | Sunset Memorial Park Service

Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery (Open Gates)

9:00am to 7:00pm

Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery
7th Street & Ingersoll Avenue
Coos Bay OR, 97420

[NOTE: cemetery gates are open Saturday, Sunday, & Monday – May 23, 24, & 25].

Program Details | Directions

Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery in Coos Bay is a particularly poignant place in Oregon to visit on Memorial Day. It sits on four acres right next to historic Marshfield High School, built in 1939-40, the last project under the WPA Program. The cemetery was the main burial ground for the Coos Bay region from 1891 to the early 1920s. As such, it’s the final resting place of some 2000 Coos Bay pioneers including over 100 veterans, 60 of whom fought in the Civil War, and six of whom died in war.

Today, the City of Coos Bay operates the cemetery under the Parks Department as a protected site on the National Register of Historic Places and a green space. Over the last few years, Coos Bay volunteers and organizations have worked hard to restore the cemetery.
  • “Died in Service” display

On Memorial Day in Coos Bay, in addition to flags on every military grave at Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery, you’ll see an area of the adjacent Marshfield High School grounds where there is the “Died in Service” display comprising 40 headstone figures (pictured above) made of coroplast.

Marshfield H.S. Students
Make Memorial Day Meaningful

Marshfield students maintain a very special “Died in Service” headstone display in front of their school during Memorial Day week. Their research work in creating and curating this memorial is educational. But it is also an ongoing contribution to the entire Coos Bay community. The headstone markers have the names and military service information of all alumni of what is now Coos Bay School District who died in wartime. They include a marker for James G. Fergusson, the very first principal of Marshfield High School in its original building, who died in France in 1916, serving in WWI. And they include a marker for Bryan Bertrand, the first Oregonian to die post 9-11 in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bertrand joined the Marines after graduating from Marshfield and died in Pakistan in 2002 at the age of 23.

Memorial Day week at Marshfield also includes their Annual Memorial Day Assembly, at 10:45am, the Thursday after Memorial Day. The program honors all veterans as well as commemorates World War II and the 80th Anniversary of the d-Day landing. The program includes musical selections.

Ocean View Memory Gardens Ceremony

10:00 to 11:00am

Ocean View Memory Gardens
1525 Ocean Blvd.
Coos Bay, OR 97420

Program Details | Directions

Memorial Day in Coos Bay

Sunset Memorial Park Ceremony

11:00am

Sunset Memorial Park
63060 Millington Frontage Road
Coos Bay OR, 97420

Program Details | Directions

The annual Memorial Day services in Coos Bay take place at two different cemeteries: Ocean View Memory Gardens (below left) and Sunset Memorial (below right). Coos Bay Elks Lodge #1160 leads each ceremony with honor guard by the American Legion Bay Area Post #34 and the as well as local veterans groups and organizations.

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