Family Story
A family idea became a treasury of memories.
Sugarloaf Pet Gardens grew from a family vision into a calling that shaped decades of service to grieving pet owners.
As shared in a Gazette Regional News feature from January 2004, founder Clifford Neal had spent his life raising Arabian horses, working the land, and building other ventures before his son Jerry suggested opening a pet cemetery. That vision created a place where families could honor animals who had been important parts of their lives.
After two years of testing and county approvals, the first burial took place in December 1983 for a dog named JoJo Steele. Her sister, Suzette Steele, followed in January. By the time the Gazette documented the Gardens twenty years later, nearly 1,500 pets had been laid to rest there.
"I've had some of my most rewarding years of helping people who've lost their pets come to a closure they can feel good about."
Neal's daughter described the work as his ministry. That framing fits the tone the Gardens still carry today: respectful, personal, and rooted in the belief that the bond between families and their pets deserves to be honored with care.
Neal remembered the stories behind many of the pets entrusted to the Gardens. His graveside services, including the Rainbow Bridge poem, acknowledged the depth of those relationships and helped families move through an emotional moment with compassion and respect.
Over the years, Sugarloaf Pet Gardens has cared for dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, hamsters, iguanas, and many other beloved companions. Families have made each memorial personal through inscriptions, portraits, keepsakes, and regular visits to a place where their pets continue to be remembered.
Legacy
A place intended to endure for generations.
By the time of the 2004 Gazette article, Clifford Neal had planted 1,100 evergreen trees around the five-acre cemetery, where 30,000 plots had been laid out. He estimated that it would take seven or eight generations to fill the Gardens.
Four generations of Neal's own family were already part of its story. “We intend for this to go on forever,” he said, describing the cemetery as a treasury of memories. That commitment continues in a landscape where families can visit, reflect, and remember the pets who shaped their lives.
A family legacy of compassionate care and lasting remembrance.