Lodi parking lot renovation uncovers decades-old promise
Beloved family cat’s memorial site to remain undisturbed
The front page of the Jan. 7, 1966 edition of the Lodi News-Sentinel had an eye-catching headline: “City To Preserve Cat’s Burial Plot.”
“A plaque marking the burial place of a pet cat, ‘Calico,’ will be incorporated into the landscaping around the new Civic Center,” the article wrote.
But what was front page news in 1966 was nearly forgotten in 2017, until one of the cat’s family members brought it to the city’s attention.
Duncan Atkinson was 8 years old when the city promised the Atkinson family that, in exchange for the purchase of their property for $21,000, they would honor the burial site of their family cat, Calico. But even though the property is now the parking lot of the city Finance Department, the family still visits their former beloved pet.
“I go by there once a month easily and I stop by and I visit,” Atkinson said. He also likes to share the unusual story with friends when they visit.
He wasn’t too concerned when he heard the city planned to resurface the parking lot, until he went by earlier this week at his mother’s request and discovered work being done right around Calico’s grave.
He asked the foreman to hold off until he could check with the city’s Public Works Department, notified the News-Sentinel, and headed to City Hall.
Some sleuthing uncovered the 51-year-old story.
Records show that the Lodi City Council made a nonbinding agreement on Jan. 5, 1966 that they would respect Calico’s burial site, city spokesman Jeff Hood said.
“We’re not going to disturb the remains of the family cat,” he said. “Although it’s not legally binding, we will honor the request.”
The reason the city forgot their promise? None of the employees or council members from 1966 are still around, Hood said.
There was a section of curb that jutted out farther than the rest, but city employees didn’t know why, he said. The request was not part of the deed, he said.
“It’s right on the property line, so it’s not in a critical location,” Hood said. The resurfacing crew will work around it, he said.
Back in 1966, the Atkinsons wrote a letter to the city, accepting their offer for the property but asking them to protect the gravesite.
Calico, who passed away at the age of 17, had spent her life “amusing, cajoling and helping raise four children,” the News-Sentinel wrote.
“I would expect her to remain undisturbed by our civic progress, in perpetuity. I will mark the place with a bronze plaque and expect the city, not as a cloud on its title but as an honorary trust, to preserve her little place in the sun,” Attorney James B. Atkinson wrote in the letter.
Duncan Atkinson was thrilled to hear the news that Calico’s final resting place would remain undisturbed. He was also reassured after he found his family’s records of the agreement and shared them with Sean Nathan, associate civil engineer for the City of Lodi. “That’s awesome,” he said. He planned to call his mother with the news right away.