Some friends returned to the Antelope Creek where Gabriel drowned to place a cross and the flower wreath. I loaded the pictures onto my laptop so I could upload and share those photos here. 

Please help us raise the funds for a name plaque for Gabriel's grave. It doesn't feel right to have an unmarked grave so we are calling on all good samaritans with a heart for this cause.

I know if it was my little boy, I would want the same love and compassion for my child's burial. In fact, I had parents who helped me when my first son died as an infant, so I know how it feels to lose a child. I was devastated for months and money for a burial and funeral was the furthest thing from my mind.

Donations can be sent directly by paypal to angelsforgabriel@gmail.com or mail checks and money orders to : 

Greenwood Cemetery

1757 J Street, Arcata, CA. 95901 
(707) 822-1664.

If you send checks or money orders to the cemetery, please include a note with the child's name, "Gabriel Jaden Coates" in care of Angels for Gabriel Memorial Fund so Charles will know what it is to be used for. Donations can be made directly to the cemetery over the phone by credit card, but the manager Charles Howard, would rather have all funds go to the Angels for Gabriel Memorial Fund for record keeping purposes. He prefers it that way although we won't discourage other donations.

I know we have been asking a lot but when you do not have the money to pay for such services, what is a a family to do? I would pray and ask God to send me some angels.

Photo Credit: Summer Breeze, a/k/a The Midnight Writer
The Spiritual Essence of Gabriel captured at the drowning site.

We wish to express our sincerest heartfelt thanks to all who gave compassionately in this cause to pay for precious Gabriel's coffin. Thank God for providing the compassionate moving on your hearts. Today, we celebrate for a few moments. Then we begin the race to complete the fund raising for the cemetery so little Gabriel can be laid to rest and his family can begin their healing process.

The Coffin is completely paid. We still need over $1500.00 for the cemetery to cover the plot and the burial. Please stay with us until this is finished. Spread the word far and wide family and friends. We need you now as much as we needed you last week.

Send paypal donations to angelsforgabriel@gmail.com and mark them Angels for Gabriel Memorial Fund.

Gabriel Jaden Coates, 2 1/2 after a bath.

For the love of Gabriel.

We are striving to lay him in his final resting place. Please help make that happen soon.

HOW TO MAKE A DONATION

Our efforts are going full force and we are hoping with all hope that the funds will start to roll in much faster. The total needed for the coffin at this point in time is $1417.87. We have raised $170.00 in three days so you can probably feel our anxiousness in seeing this total in donations climb.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The amount listed above is only for the coffin. To cover the burial plot and funeral services, we have been quoted $1602. 00 to cover that part of the service. It would also be nice to have some funds for the wake so we can cover some food and flowers for the grave. There is also some printing of memorial brochures that needs to be done.

If someone wants to help us with the posters and flyers and signs that Raven and I are printing tomorrow or with the Memorial brochures, please send a donation with that notation on it. It all goes to Angels for Gabriel Memorial Fund though.

We are printing flyers to circulate around Siskiyou county in hopes to inspire some local folks here to contribute to this effort of love and compassion for Gabriel and his family. That covers Weed, Mount Shasta and Yreka, California.

Gabriel is resting at the funeral parlor in Yreka so we will be staying close to him for this effort until the service on Wednesday. Afterwards, he will be transported by his father Woodstock to McKinleyville where the burial and wake will take place. We are waiting on final date, location and instructions from Woodstock (Loren) regarding those details. As soon as we know anything, it will be posted here.

We'll continue to post updates on the fundraiser so you will know where the help is needed.

If you want to send flowers, I would suggest sending them to the final resting place so I'll post that information soon. Cards should be mailed to :

Loren David O'Connor
1829 Cliff Avenue,
McKinleyville, California 95519.

Please leave your comments on this blog to let the family know you are thinking of them. Share your loving and compassionate words for them to read because they check this blog regularly.

As always, thank you for caring.

Angels for Gabriel

This blog is dedicated to a beautiful young soul who chose to leave this earth after three short years. While he was here, Gabriel touched the hearts of many lives and deeply touched the heart of his father and brother whom he left behind. Gabriel will always be remembered for the love he gave to those who knew this little man. He will be greatly missed on earth and always remembered. As a tribute, this blog is for Gabriel and his story. May it inspire others and move them to compassion. May it give a sense of timelessness while reminding us all how temporary life on earth can be for any one of us. Cherish those whom you love and are spending time with while they are here.

Please contribute to Gabriel's Memorial Fund. His grieving Father would appreciate any help in gathering funds to lay his soul to rest and to pay for a memorial service. Send donations by paypal to angelsforgabriel@gmail.com or click the donate button in the sidebar. God bless you for your compassion.

The Memorial Service information will be announced on this blog for those who want to contribute. We will be posting photos of Gabriel Jaden Coates in celebration of his life. We will be uploading photos of the gathering where he made his crossing into the eternal world. Pray for comfort for his family.

News reports about the drowning. Please keep in mind that these reports may not be completely accurate.
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Mail Tribune

Boy, 3, drowns in Siskiyou County creek

May 25, 2009

A 3-year-old California boy camping with family members drowned Sunday in a Siskiyou County creek, police say.

Gabriel Jaden Coates was attending a gathering at an unimproved camp on Antelope Creek two miles south of the Siskiyou County town of Tennant, said Susan Gravenkamp, a Siskiyou County sheriff's office spokeswoman.

The boy and a brother, 9, had gone for a walk, and the older boy returned to the camp and said Gabriel was being watched by someone else, Gravenkamp said. When the boy's father, Loren David O'Conner, of McKinleyville, went to check on the toddler, he was no longer with the person who had been watching him, Gravenkamp said.

She said people at the gathering searched for the boy for two hours before contacting police.

Police officers, Forest Service employees, search and rescue volunteers and citizens continued the search and found the boy's body in the creek that afternoon, Gravenkamp said.

— Staff reports
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Record Searchlight Online

Boy found dead in Siskyou County at Rainbow Gathering

By Record Searchlight staff
Originally published 03:21 p.m., May 25, 2009
Updated 03:21 p.m., May 25, 2009

TENNANT -- A 3-year-old boy was found dead in a creek Sunday afternoon by rescue crews after the boy had wandered away from his family's Rainbow Gathering campsite, officials said.

About 30 members of the nomadic Rainbow Gathering group had gathered over the weekend off of Highway 97 on Antelope Creek in rural Siskiyou County, said Siskiyou County sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp.

Around 11 a.m., Gabriel Jaden Coates, 3, and his 9-year old brother had gone for a walk away from the campsite, Gravenkamp said.

The older brother returned to camp to get some candy and told his father, Loren David O’Connor, 32, of McKinleyville that another person at the camp was watching the boy, Gravenkamp said.

Gabriel never returned, and O’Connor went to check on him.

"The person watching Gabriel said the little boy was just there just a few minutes earlier," Gravenkamp said.

The campers searched for Gabriel for about two hours and then one of them drove to a residence in Tennant and called for help, she said.

A few hours later, a firefighter found the boy dead, under the water entangled in the limbs of a tree that had fallen across the creek about 50 feet downstream from the camp site, Gravenkamp said.

An autopsy will be performed to determine the boy's exact cause of death.