'Not What We Paid for': Families Mourn Cemetery’s Decline at Mount Tamalpais

At the end of a winding road in a small neighborhood tucked into San Rafael’s estuarine landscape lies the entrance to Mount Tamalpais Cemetery. The site has been in operation since 1879, bearing witness to thousands of burials, goodbyes and solemn visits on birthdays and anniversaries.

Teveia Barnes, a lawyer based in San Rafael, remembers when the cemetery was lush, green and well-manicured. Barnes is a member of Kol Shofar, a Tiburon-based synagogue that purchased more than 1,000 plots at Mount Tam Cemetery.

She recalls visiting with her husband in 2012 to look at plots together and thinking to herself, “This would be such a lovely place to be.” But in the years that followed, Barnes watched the grass give way to towering weeds, sturdy roads crack and potholes emerge.

“I came up here and I took pictures,” Barnes said. “That’s when I first appreciated how this whole area had deteriorated to such an extent that it didn’t resemble at all the cemetery that we had signed up to come to.”

At that time, Barnes had no idea what lay ahead for the cemetery — or her role in subsequent legal battles that would follow. She was simply planning for the future, having the inevitable conversation about where she and her loved ones would one day be laid to rest.

In June 2022, the state Attorney General’s office filed a formal accusation against the owners of Mount Tamalpais Cemetery on behalf of California’s Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.

Bureau Chief Gina Sanchez accused the cemetery’s owners of mismanaging the Eternal Care Fund — or ECF — failing to maintain the grounds, and neglecting to comply with citations after delays in filing its annual reports.

Under state law, cemetery owners are required to establish ECFs, funded by a portion of consumer plot purchases, with profits reserved for cemetery maintenance.

Following the formal accusation, Mount Tam Cemetery owner Buck Kamphausen, a Vallejo-based businessman, and his two partners were ordered to surrender their licenses and relinquish control of the cemetery’s ECF, which held around $50 million.

Just five months later, a nonprofit religious organization called Evergreen Ministries was formed, with Kamphausen listed as its CEO. Court documents show he attempted to transfer the funds and “donate the cemeteries” to Evergreen Ministries.

But the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau discovered the plan and petitioned the Solano County Superior Court to intervene and take control of the assets.

After a lengthy legal dispute, Judge Christine Carringer ultimately ruled that the state was within its rights to seize the ECF. She also noted that it appeared “Evergreen Ministries was formed for the purpose of avoiding governmental regulation, oversight and taxation.”

During the legal proceedings, members of Kol Shofar testified about watching the cemetery fall into disrepair. Barnes was among them.

She said she wanted to “be sure that Kol Shofar’s interest was protected, because Kol Shofar had a contract that was more encompassing than other contracts.”

At stake were the personal and financial investments of countless families, Kol Shofar’s Rabbi Paul Steinberg said.

“I’ve never had to tell families, listen, you better bring hiking boots,” Steinberg said. “Don’t wear your nice heels because you could easily trip over rocks.”

Carringer’s ruling did not strip Evergreen Ministries of ownership — only its control of the cemetery’s assets — so it remained the owner of Mount Tamalpais Cemetery.

But in March, the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau issued cease-and-desist orders to all four cemeteries under Evergreen Ministries, including Mount Tam Cemetery, once again accusing the owners of financial mismanagement and neglect, and ordering all operations to stop.

In an email to KQED, the Bureau said it “does not have information regarding plans for future ownership,” and that unless the cemetery is purchased by a new owner and relicensed, “it is considered unlicensed or abandoned and falls outside the regulatory authority of the Bureau.”

Amidst the uncertainty, the cemetery has continued to deteriorate, according to those with loved ones buried there.

“Seeing the deterioration in the roads is the most worrisome thing, because some of those roads are quite narrow,” said Steve Gershik, whose parents are interred at Mount Tam.

Gershik said he registered things turning south in 2013. “I noticed the erosion and how the weeds had grown up after just one year since their funeral,” he said.

Frustrated over the uncertainty surrounding the cemetery’s future, Gershik said he’s “really disappointed in the lack of aggression of the state to hold them accountable.”

“They seem to be really dragging their feet, and they could be doing a lot more to hold on to account the standards which all cemeteries in California should hold,” he continued.

Barnes said some of her friends now bring gardening shears to trim the weeds themselves. “This isn’t the proper respect and honor that we expected,” she said. “So that adds another level of trauma to the experience of coming to visit.”

Kamphausen told KQED that he has already begun the appeal process against the Bureau’s most recent cease-and-desist order.

“I believe that we will prevail, and our attorneys do,” Kamphausen said. “It’s a matter of when we get to court.”

He said the cemetery’s current state reflects drought conditions, wildfire concerns, and invasive species like eucalyptus trees, which make upkeep more difficult.

Kol Shofar’s Executive Director Gordon Gladstone said the path forward may be complicated — but the need for change is clear.

“It takes a willingness to do it and a willingness to invest in the services and processes that make that possible,” Gladstone said. “So, magic wand in hand, we bring that same kind of care, compassion, and attentiveness to Mount Tamalpais.”