Archived Site: Mary Pearl Willis Foundation

Information Concerning this Archived Site

Source: http://www.mpwfoundation.org/ (Inactive)

This is the archive of the website for the Mary Pearl Willis Foundation, named after a member of Peoples Temple who died in Jonestown in 1978. Lela Howard, the niece of Ms. Willis, established the site in 2007 initially to pay tribute to her aunt and to document the efforts to identify the location of Ms. Willis' unmarked grave in a Louisiana graveyard. After a successful campaign to rebury her aunt, Ms. Howard then transformed the foundation into a source of financial assistance to low income families so that "unmarked graves are no longer an option." The foundation became inactive in 2009.

In the interest of preserving the information from the Mary Pearl Willis Foundation site for future generations of Jonestown scholars and researchers, the managers of this site obtained permission from Ms. Howard to archive this work in its entirety.

The Mary Pearl Willis Foundation

5650 Windsor Way
Suite 307
Culver City, CA 90230

ph: (310) 216-0160

Services We Provide

The specific purposes for which this 501(c)(3) non profit charitable organization is organized are to recognize the victims of violent crimes, including, but not limited to, material relating to grief support, through publications, lectures and provide charitable assistance to the general public in establishing monuments (headstones, grave markers and memorials) honoring deceased victims.

Too often, victims are not discussed either from pain or shame, this creates an erasure of their existence, furthering turmoil.  No matter how it ended, every life matters and should be honored.  

In addition, families are simply unable to afford a funeral due to lack of life insurance and/or pre-need arrangements and have no other choice but to leave a grave unmarked, this should never be the case.  

The Foundation plans to assist low income families by working together with funeral homes and cemeteries to purchase grave markers for the deceased.  

We will help families work with cemeteries to locate unmarked graves and demand that cemeteries maintain the grounds which contain graves.

We provide grief support groups giving surviving loved ones an outlet to release and not hide their sorrows.

We will provide the following services:

  • Consulting
  • Advice
  • And Peace of mind

5650 Windsor Way
Suite 307
Culver City , CA 90230

ph: (310) 216-0160