Desert cemetery mecca for Frank Sinatra fans

Dozens of cars pull into Desert Memorial Park each day and teary-eyed occupants step out to pay homage to Frank Sinatra with bouquets of flowers, American flags and, for some, a moment to kneel in prayer for Ol' Blue Eyes. Sinatra died a month ago at 82.

Most of those taking snapshots of the gravesite in a family plot that includes Sinatra's parents were surprised at the austerity of it all: The world-renowned Chairman of the Board was buried in a well-kept but isolated cemetery with no sign of the grandeur some expected.

"What a humble, humble grave. I'm amazed at the humbleness of it. It just goes to show you this is how we all wind up someday," Mary Gene Ewaskey, 72, said Saturday afternoon after traveling 130 miles from Long Beach.

"We decided we just had to come and see Frank. If I could kneel down and pray I would. You just couldn't beat him. I love Frank Sinatra," Mrs. Ewaskey said.

"I love him. I saw him on stage in Los Angeles before he was famous. He was just a skinny little kid," boasted Ruth Nelson, 78, of Long Beach, implying she was well ahead of the curve in recognizing the star quality of the man who musically defined her generation.

Fans arriving in the Palm Springs resort area navigate over Frank Sinatra Drive, Dinah Shore Drive, Bob Hope Drive, Gerald Ford Drive and Gene Autry Trail to find the graveyard, which is surrounded by open desert on Ramon Road near Interstate 10.

Pepper and palm trees dot the well-manicured, lush landscape.

"You see, in Palm Springs they want their cemetery to look like their golf course," cemetery spokeswoman Shirley Quake said Monday.

The steady stream of weekend visitors left roses, carnations and even a brilliant flowering cactus. Old Glory waved from a stick stuck in the sun-browned area of sod where the granite headstone will be placed.

"It's constant throughout the day," Quake said of the crowds. Sinatra fans often begin gathering at the cemetery gates before the cemetery gates open at 7 a.m.

"We have 50 people a day coming here wondering where the grave is. We point them in the right direction. We're glad to help," said Jonathan DeWyer of the Palm Springs Mortuary across the street from the county-owned cemetery.

"I'm surprised there's no tombstone," said Lee Harris, 81, of Wheeling, W. Va., after discovering a group of about 10 people standing around the Sinatra grave on a 90-degree afternoon.

Grave markers often aren't delivered for months, Quake said.

"So this is the grave? I'm surprised how simple it is. I was expecting something more elaborate," said Joan Prutsman, 61, of Fullerton.

"It's the end of an era," said her husband, Joseph Prutsman, 62.

After a few moments, the Prutsmans departed with daughter Donna Weaver.

"We're going to go find Sonny Bono now, bye," she said.

Bono's grave is about 300 yards away, near a fountain, and his fresh grave marker displays his name in script and etched underneath: "And the beat goes on."

Others wandered over to a pepper tree near the Sinatra grave where "Green Acres" actress Eva Gabor, her sister Magda and mother Jolie are buried.

Sinatra died of a heart attack May 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

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