 Rockafield Cemetery
Rockafield Cemetery, on the campus of Wright State University, represents the final resting place for many of the original owners of the property on which Wright State University was built. The original cemetery was developed on property owned by several families beginning in 1803 and probably was established around 1825. It was the custom in the 1800s to set aside a piece of land for use as a cemetery. Here were buried not only the family members of the owners of the property, but also close relatives, friends and neighbors. The descendents of Martin Luther Rockenfield owned the property when the cemetery was established, so their family members, friends and neighbors are interred here. There are many variations in the spelling of the Rockafield name, but all refer to the same family. When the land for Wright State University was purchased in 1964 from various owners, the cemetery tract was purchased from Joe Koogler. A detailed genealogy of the Rockenfield (or Rockafield) family has been compiled by the Wright State University Special Collections and Archives division of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library and may be found here on the Internet.
The original cemetery contained 45 graves on a one-half acre plot and is located near the Kauffman Avenue entrance to the university. The cemetery was expanded in 1978, and approved as a legal burial ground by the Fairborn City Council and consecrated by the Roman Catholic Church. Interment in the cemetery is open to all who are part of the Anatomical Gift Program, whether they sustain deeply held religious beliefs or subscribe to no particular faith. These donors have chosen to be interred on the campus rather than in a private cemetery or mausoleum. A beautiful, polished, black granite monument has been placed in this cemetery to recognize and honor the donors interred there.
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A second expansion to double the size of the existing cemetery was completed in 2009. As of 2009, more than 6,000 donors had been received into the Anatomical Gift Program, and nearly 3,000 of these noble souls are interred in the Rockafield Cemetery. All other donors have been returned to their families for interment or inurnment in cemeteries and mausolea across the country.
Recently, medical classes and private donors have provided granite benches in the cemetery for the comfort of those who visit and wish to pause and reflect.
Two brick walkways have been installed in the cemetery to make available to our donors’ families the opportunity to have the names of their loved ones inscribed on individual bricks as another form of recognition and honor. Oftentimes, medical classes will purchase bricks to honor those who have enabled their educations. Locating individual bricks is facilitated by a locator panel situated at the entrance to the cemetery.
All areas of the cemetery are handicap accessible and open daily to the public except during the memorial services, when visitation is restricted to friends and family members of those who are being honored in the memorial services.
Veterans of the United States military who are buried in Rockafield Cemetery are honored by local color guard units on national holidays. Graves are decorated with military markers and United States flags.
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