Couple's tour of the dead helps bring history to life 
By Ralph Montano Bee Staff Writer 
Publication Date  6/27/2004 
Page  B2 
Section  METRO   

ABOVE & BEYOND - A weekly look at unsung heroes 

For almost 10 years, Louis and Marilyn Demas have been talking about dead people.

He's a skilled orator and she's a history buff. They both have an incurable, morbid curiosity and could hardly walk past an old headstone without wondering how the person died and, more important, how he or she lived.

"The good feeling comes when people say they never had an interest in history before coming on one of our tours," said Louis Demas, a Sacramento attorney and president of the city's Old City Cemetery Committee Inc.

In 1986, a group of concerned citizens banded together to try to stop the ravages of time and vandalism on some of the city's oldest graves and monuments. They formed a committee under the Sacramento County Historical Society the following year. Last year, the committee became an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring and preserving a historic burial ground.

Marilyn Demas, a retired preschool teacher, was working at the Old Sacramento School House Museum when someone challenged her to do research on some of the state's first educators.

She was later asked if she would like to lead tours through the Old City Cemetery.

"I told them, 'I have a lisp, an overbite and a Brooklyn accent. Surely you could do better than me,' " she said.

Louis Demas followed his wife into the volunteer program a few years later.

"I enjoy entertaining people," he said. "I try to entertain and inform at the same time. But I'm just a talking head. Marilyn does most of the research."

The research has always fascinated Marilyn Demas.

"It is a little unseemly to say, 'Let's see what we can dig up in a graveyard,' " she said. "But it is a lot of fun."

Among her favorite stories: Agnes Jacoax, one of Sacramento's first schoolteachers, who died under mysterious circumstances after blowing the whistle on an early scandal, and Sarah Jones, the first African American principal of an integrated school, Fremont Elementary at 24th and N streets, in 1895.

The Demases have donated hundreds of hours organizing, researching and conducting history tours, said Sharon Patrician, secretary for the Old City Cemetery Committee Inc.

"They have boundless energy, commitment and enthusiasm for their volunteer work," Patrician said.

The organization provides tours every second and fourth Saturday between March and mid-November.

A recent tour hosted by the Demases focused on key figures in building the Capitol.

Louis Demas wore a black, round-top hat with a wool jacket and maroon vest, a typical outfit for the mid-1850s. He and his wife, dressed in a Victorian dress and gloves, passed a microphone back and forth recounting tales of struggling architects and legislators who settled scores with duels and gunfire.

Some of the more popular programs include tours on the Civil War, outlaws and lawmen, and railroad men.

The group also hosts special events and fund-raisers like one on July 9 that will feature a tour on beer and baseball. For more information, call (916) 448-0811 or visit its Web site at www.oldcitycemetery.com.