[Runscott]

From talking with 71buc, I already knew Faust was buried at the Western State Cemetery, but was surprised that we accidentally parked next to it. The cemetery itself is really a pleasant enough place, and they are restoring it - adding nice markers with full names and removing the numbers - but dying at Western State in 1915 was no way to go.

Even today, it's reputation scares people being held at other places - they think that if they get sent there it is because there is no hope, and it's a one-way ticket. That's not true, but it's the belief that somehow gets perpetrated at other facilities where people with mental illnesses are being held. In Pierce County, they are taken there for long-term commitment hearings, and even that experience is horrifying for them. I can only imagine what it must have been like in Charlie Faust's day.

Edited to add - there are over 3,000 people buried in a relatively small area. Originally, all had small stones like the one below the readable one in the picture, that simply have the grave number. Quite a few have been replaced with what looks like marble markers, that are about four times the size of the old stones. Maybe 1/5 or fewer have been replaced. Charlie Faust's marker is a unique type, so I'm guessing it was done privately. Also, his was the only grave with flowers.