Camelback Cemetery Houses Paradise Valley History

Surrounded by luxurious estates and sprawling desert ranch-style homes, Camelback Cemetery is located on two acres of prime real estate in Paradise Valley, Arizona. This hidden historical treasure is the final resting place for approximately 900 local homesteaders, ranch workers and luminaries, including approximately 50 veterans.

Marked by simple white crosses as well as elaborate granite headstones, the cemetery’s story begins way back in 1915 when Hans and Mary Weaver were ranching a 160-acre spread about a mile from Camelback Mountain. Their beautiful daughter, Hattie, fell in love with and married a handsome poultry farmer Adolph Frank Poenicke, but alas, their bliss was destined to be short-lived.

Three weeks after the wedding, 20-year-old Adolph unexpectedly died. With no cemetery nearby, and wanting to bury his daughter’s lover in a place where she could visit his grave often, Hans created a makeshift cemetery on a portion of his land. Sadly, the next year, Mary Weaver passed away during an influenza epidemic and was buried next to her son-in-law.

Hans eventually dedicated the real estate the cemetery occupies and named it “Camelback Cemetery” in honor of the soaring mountain in the background. As time went on, ranch workers and farmers were laid to rest in the cemetery, as were local celebrities such as Joe “Cheyenne” Kiser, who died in 1961, but had been named the World Champion Cowboy of 1923-24. Elmer Powell, a former World War II Prisoner of War who survived the Bataan Death March, is also buried in Camelback Cemetery. After the war, Powell became a beloved veterinarian in Scottsdale. He died in 1984.

Perhaps the most well-known recent burials in Camelback Cemetery are Robert and Katherine “Kax” Kierland Herberger, namesake of such famous Phoenix landmarks as the Herberger Theater and Kierland Commons. Robert died in 1999 and Katherine died in 2003, and while the longtime valley residents certainly could have afforded to be buried elsewhere, they chose to be buried at Camelback Cemetery.

Camelback Cemetery is located across the street from Kiva Elementary School in the 6900 block of East McDonald Drive in Paradise Valley, Arizona.