Palm Springs pioneer Dr. Welwood Murray established a two-acre private cemetery on August 29, 1917 after his son George passed way. Dr. Murray was one of the desert’s large landowners who established the first hotel in Palm Springs in 1886.
Many prominent civic and community leaders, as well as many famous desert pioneers are buried in the Welwood Murray Cemetery, including Earl C. Coffman, Nellie Coffman, Frank Shannon, Florian Boyd, Virginia Valli Farrell and Katherine Finchy.
As time went by it was necessary to find a larger cemetery space to serve the growing valley. On October 31, 1956, Desert Memorial Park was opened at the corner of Ramon Road and Da Vall Drive. Celebrities such as Busby Berkeley, Sonny Bono, Betty Hutton, Magda Gabor, Frederick Lowe, Cameron Mitchell, William Powell and Frank Sinatra have chosen Desert Memorial Park as their final resting place.