"Annual ceremony remembers state hospital patients buried in mass graves

A small group gathered at the Ukiah cemetery Monday to pay their respects to thousands of people whose lives ended with little or no notice.

"No one should be thrown away like so much garbage, like their time on earth meant nothing," said Ruth Valenzuela, a representative of state Sen. Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata). "Everyone deserves a final resting place that says they were here and they mattered."

The ceremony was one of 10 held across the state as part of Remembrance Day, started by the California Memorial Project, which honors the close to 50,000 people who died in a state institution between the mid 1880s and the 1960s."