There’s a poet so famous that huge cultural institutions in Mexico bear his name, as does an international award for poetry.

Gilberto Owen Estrada is one of Mexico’s great 20th century writers.

Yet in nearly 71 years, only a few outside his family knew he was buried in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, writes Rosa Cartagena for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Members of the Mexican Consultate of Philadelphia recently paid a visit to the grave site.

“He is known in Mexico a lot, but in the U.S., he’s just completely anonymous.” said writer Carlos José Pérez Sámano.

Estrada, also a great diplomat from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, came to Philadelphia in 1947 to serve as the Mexican Consul, but died of cirrhosis at age 48. 

His family could not arrange to return his body to Sinaloa, so he was interred at Holy Cross in 1952.

Over time, the grave was neglected, and fell into despair.

Now Estrada may soon return home, thanks to Samano, who in 2021 became the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s first artist-in-residence.

He’s got talks going between the Consulate, the government of Sinaloa, and Owen Estrada’s family to repatriate him to Mexico, with honors.

Read more about Gilberto Owen Estrada in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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This video highlights in music and images the Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon.