This is the Bechtel Mausoleum in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.  The cemetery is a who’s who of  early Oakland and San Francisco history.  The Bechtel’s have a particular strong place in local history for me since I went to engineering school at Cal and one the major buildings is the Bechtel Engineering Center.

A second photo of the Crocker Angel.   Even in a photograph, the exquisite carving of the angel’s dress comes across.

If you visit Mountain View Cemetery and are looking for the angel, she’s in plot 24.

The Crocker Angel is most famous sculpture at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.  The angel the is staring up at the heavens with a bored expression on her face like she’s pondering why she’s the one to sit on a grave for eternity.

This is the grave of Henry S. Crocker who founded a printing company in Sacramento.    Hat tip to Mountain View People blog who explained to me who Henry Crocker was.  He’s the brother of Charles Crocker who was one the Big Four Railroad barons.  Charles Crocker has huge monument much higher up on the hill.   Though his brother Charles Crocker’s monument probably cost ten times as much, this much smaller marker has ten times the grace.

Here’s another shot of the angel by Thomas Hawk on Flickr with some snarky comments about the Crockers, though those comments were under the misconception that Henry Crocker was a banker.