No family found, Santa Rosa’s ‘Amazing Grace’ to be laid to rest by friends, neighbors

Friends are rallying to help cover the cost of cremation for a woman who for years made her home in a Santa Rosa park, earning not the ire of her neighbors, but their affection.

Ellyn Grace Cole, who went publicly by the name Grace Davis, died June 26 in Steele Lane Park where she lived unhoused, but under the watchful protection of her neighbors, for nearly four years. She was 59.

County officials were unable to find living family members for Grace, after which neighbor and friend Vicky Kumpfer agreed to take responsibility for her remains.

From 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Kumpfer is hosting a celebration of Grace in which she hopes to generate donations to help offset the mandatory $1,833 cremation fees already incurred.

“She deserves to have some dignity,” Kumpfer said.

Grace was known to hold court in her corner of the park, doling out advice and engaging in conversation. She was a regular at both Peet’s and Starbucks coffee shops on Mendocino Avenue, sitting in the same seat while drawing and reading for hours.

About 40 people attended a casual memorial held July 10 that featured a friend playing live music and pieces of Grace’s artwork displayed on a park fence.

Grace was discovered unresponsive in the park on the morning of June 26. An autopsy was performed but a cause of death was not available. Foul play was not suspected.

The gathering will be 4-7 p.m. Thursday in Steele Lane Park. Kumpfer called it a chance to “exercise a lesson of hers to give and come together as a community.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Instagram @kerry.benefield.