The Guadalupe Public Cemetery District (GPCD) is a public agency that owns and operates the town cemetery as a special district in, and for, the County of Santa Barbara in the great State of California.

The GPCD operates with policies and procedures established by its Board of Trustees, on which members volunteer to serve four-year terms. Board members are then approved and appointed by Santa Barbara County’s Board of Supervisors. The basis for all operational guidelines are maintained with strict adherence to the letter and intent of the California Health and Safety Code (specifically the section for Public Cemetery Districts).

Our Team

Board of Trustees
Albert Nunez, President
Joice Earleen Raguz, Vice President
Teresita Herdzik, Board Member
Rosie Garcia, Board Member

Our crew for 2026, include four groundskeepers, an office coordinator and an office assistant. Our part-time staff works hard to keep our grounds in excellent condition while serving the public’s needs for burial services. Visit this link to view the District’s compensation report by year.

Coming soon: LAFCO’s Latest Municipal Service Review and Sphere of Influence Update

Our History

Guadalupe, with just over 8,000 residents, has a wonderfully diverse history. The area’s first settlers were the Chumash, some 13,000 years ago. Fast forward to 1840, when this area was considered “Alta” (northern) Mexico, and the Mexican governor awarded a land grant to Juan Diego Olivera and Jose Teodoro Arellanes. This land grant for ‘Rancho Guadalupe,’ covered over 40,000 acres, extending eight miles inland and ten miles along the coast. The Rancho was used mainly for processing cattle from the nearby La Purisima Mission when hides, tallow and dried meat were in demand. Following the droughts of the early 1860’s, Rancho Guadalupe was passed into the hands of other family members.

Almost 25 years later, Theodore LeRoy, as an agent for a chain of French banks, acquires Rancho Guadalupe for $600,000. Eventually, his nephews start plotting for a town site in 1871 and begin selling portions of the land to farmers and dairymen, thus laying the groundwork for a town to emerge.

The town does more than emerge, it explodes! In just a few short years later, the town would have a postmaster, 100+ dwellings, four stores, one drug store, two meat markets, two hotels, two blacksmith shops, a harness shop, a one-room school for 60 children, five saloons, a post office, and a Wells Fargo & Company express office.

Two lodges become part of the town in 1874, the Masonic Lodge, and The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). Given that the only cemetery near town was the Catholic cemetery on Point Sal Road, the two lodges jointly purchased the property that became today’s cemetery. The two lodges shared expenses, record keeping, care of the grounds, and fee collection.  By 1918, membership was dwindling as lodge members were moving to larger lodges in Santa Maria. Thus, the cemetery was turned over to the County of Santa Barbara, and a ‘special district’ was formed. Later, the management of special districts and public cemeteries governance would come under the auspices of California’s Heath and Safety Code after it was established in 1939. 

Under the Health and Safety code, special districts are endowed with the authority to establish a board of trustees to maintain and operate the district.  While regulations and standards have evolved over the decades, the foundation remains. Section 9001 of the Code states that “the preservation and maintenance of public cemeteries is a matter of public health and safety.” Today’s crew works hard to meet this incredible responsibility.

Our cemetery has become a distinguished final resting place with a mix of beautiful historical headstones among well-designed modern headstones. A flagpole anchors the center of the grounds and was dedicated in 2004 by the local American Legion Post 371, in honor of the hundreds of veterans buried on our grounds. Our cemetery moves into the future, while always honoring our past.