OAKLAND--As mourners assembled Wednesday for the
                           20th annual services commemorating the Jonestown
                      tragedy, a Los Angeles business executive pledged funds for a
                      long-sought memorial wall to be inscribed with the names and ages
                      of more than 900 victims of the mass murders and suicides in
                      Guyana.
                      Almost 150 people gathered for the three-hour service, including
                      dozens of Jonestown survivors and ex-members. Children of slain
                      Rep. Leo Ryan and the man who had him killed, the Rev. Jim
                      Jones, attended too--and embraced before the ceremonies.
                      For years, the service organizers have tried unsuccessfully to raise
                      an estimated $35,000 to erect a Vietnam memorial-style wall in
                      Evergreen Cemetery, where the unidentified or unclaimed bodies of
                      409 Peoples Temple members are buried in a mass grave.
                      "Now we can see the wall, our dream, becoming a reality," said
                      Jynona Norwood, an Inglewood evangelist who puts on the
                      services and lost 27 relatives. "I feel wonderful."
                      On Wednesday, Liz M. Aguirre, president of Ultraseal
                      International, hand-delivered a $5,000 check to Norwood and
                      challenged other businesses to match it. She also pledged a share of
                      future proceeds from her $3 million-a-year tire sealant
                      manufacturing company.
                      Aguirre said she was moved to make the donation by a Times story
                      Saturday about the people whose lives have been torn apart by the
                      murders and mass suicides orchestrated by Jones.
                      "It brought tears to my eyes. I'll make sure this wall goes up," said
                      the 64-year-old businesswoman and former country singer. "All
                      these people died [in Guyana], and everyone should know who
                      they are."
                      Poet Maya Angelou has agreed to write a dedication for the
                      proposed 20-foot-long wall, which would consist of three black
                      granite panels with the names of victims.
                      On Nov. 18, 1978, Jones led 913 followers in a death rite in
                      Jonestown, the temple's South American agricultural commune,
                      after ordering members to attack Ryan's party at a nearby airstrip.
                      Ryan had gone to Jonestown to check on the well-being of the
                      inhabitants, and more than a dozen members chose to leave with
                      him.
                      Temple gunmen killed Ryan, San Francisco Examiner photographer
                      Greg Robinson, NBC newsmen Don Harris and Bob Brown, and a
                      defector.
                      Their names also would be included on the wall, which has been
                      sought for years by Norwood and her uncle, Fred Lewis of San
                      Francisco, who lost his wife, seven children and 19 other relatives.
                      Healing and remembering were the themes of the ceremony, the
                      best-attended in 20 years. Two of Jones' sons, Stephan and Jim Jr.,
                      were present, along with three of Ryan's children--Patricia, Patrick
                      and Erin.
                      In an impassioned speech, Stephan Jones, now 39, closed his eyes
                      and called out the names of many departed loved ones, then said:
                      "They've been here waiting on us to remember them fully, [to]
                      remember their beauty and remember their frailties. These people
                      were too good and powerful to call victims."

                      Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved