Restored tomb is fit for a King

 Temecula: Eve Craig made upgrading pioneer Louis Wolf's resting site

 a one - man crusade. By Tim O'Leary

 The "King of Temecula" may finally be able to rest in peace following a $127,000.00 restoration of the                                    historic tomb that contains his remains and those of three of his children. " I am so happy that it's done                                  

said Eve Craig, who launched a one-woman restoration drive more then four years ago. "Louis (Wolf) would

be very happy with it, I'm sure , added Craig , a founder and former president of the Temecula Historical

Society. Wolf, one of Temecula's most colorful historic figures, is entombed on a knoll overlooking much of

the valley. In recent years, a sea of red - tile roofs has sprung up around it. The 118 year old tomb had

deteriorated over the decades, and pieces were removed, lost or hauled off. Enter the 82 year old Craig ,

whose crusade raised the money and lined up the donated labor and materials that transformed the tomb.

Craig said she didn't know what she was getting into, The restoration took much longer than she expected,

cost much more than anticipated and featured such unexpected hurdles as a freak tornado demolished a

wooden fence. One of her key strategies was taking people to lunch and dinner as she cajoled contributions

and donated labor, materials and equipment. She said just about all of Temecula's restaurant managers know

her by sight, and she's lost track of how many meals she's  purchased over the years. Along the way Craig

has made many new friends and won the respect of local preservationists, who once thought the tomb

restoration might be too tough to tackle. "That woman's something else" said Roger Sannipoli, who owns

a historic Old Town residence and has been one of Craig's most active helpers. " I've  got to hand it to her.

I've never seen anyone work so hard. She's aggressive and hard-working and knows how to pull strings. She

persuaded the city to provide about $10,000.00 for the work. About 90 individuals, groups and companies

helped out, many donating part or all of the labor and materials. The 30,000 to 35,000 pound monument

and sarcophagus were crumbling badly when Craig launched her restoration drive.  The tomb is at the end

of Maguey Court, a cul-de-sac in the rainbow Canyon housing tract. Its location was kept under wraps for

years to prevent further destruction by vandals. It is surrounded by a wrought iron fence with a locking

gate. The tomb is freshly plastered. The gaping cracks were filled when the sarcophagus was leveled and a

new concrete foundation  was poured. Trees have been planted and a stone walk installed. A picnic table

now sits inside the fence in anticipation of contemplative visitors. The tomb was bumped from its home twice

during development booms that rippled through the area. Developers who bought the tomb and the land

surrounding it initially wanted to move the grave to the Temecula Public Cemetery and build a home on the

lot, but Wolf's descendants objected. The tomb and the lot it stands on were later deeded to Norman Pico Sr.

a Pechanga tribal leader, and other Wolf descendants. A second push to keep the tomb in place came in

1997, when the sliver of land that it occupies risked being sold for back taxes. In a ruling that was believed

to be the first of its kind in the state, officials in 1998 exempted Wolf's descendants from paying property

taxes on the site. At that time, Pico, Wolf's great-great-great-grandson, owed about $3,500.000 in

property taxes, interest and penalties on the lot. Failure to pay the bill, which dated back to 1991,could

have prompted county officials to put the property on the auction block. The county could have exempted

the property only as a graveyard, but it could not do that because state law defined a graveyard as a

place where six or more human bodies are buried. After months of research, state officials plowed a

paper trail that led them to a loophole, which created exemptions for smaller, nonprofit cemeteries.

Wolf was born in Alsace, France, in 1833. He arrived in Temecula in 1957 and opened a store near the

present day intersection of Highway 79 South and Redhawk Parkway. The Wolf Store became an im-

portant stagecoach stop on the Southern Immigrant Trail through what is now southwestern Riverside

County. The adobe store is believed to be the oldest pioneer structure in the area, followed by Wolf's

tomb. Wolf also was the local postmaster, tax collector, justice of the peace and school district clerk. Indians

called him "The King of Temecula", and popular lore holds that he and his wife, Ramona Place, who was

part indian , were  woven into Helen Hunt Jackson's novel "Ramona". Jackson stayed at the Wolf house

in 1882, and she and Place became close friends. The author and indian rights crusader would draw on

her hostess recollections of the eviction of the Pechanga tribe from its village while writing "Ramona".

This is a look at the final resting place for this historic chapel.