Pet Cemetery Deaths in the Swamps of a Louisiana 1950, Toca, LA Grace Thompson, founded t he "Azalea Original Pet Cemetery" around 1950, in Toca, St. Bernard, a tiny rural village, about a 20 minute drive southwest of New Orleans' French Quarter. Dorothy daugter of Grace Thompson Posing with the life-size statue Of a St. Bernard Dog that marked the cemetery's entrance off St. Bernard Hwy. The statue was created by Brandon Nodier - live-in groundskeeper. The words carved into stone read, Animals of every kind are buried here from dogs and cats to parakeets, rabbits and even a boa constrictor Red Line - Route from NOLA French Quarter to the Pet Cemetery 1975, Toca, LA Grace's daughter , Dorothy Thompson, shot her husband to death on the pet cemetery property. Dorothy was never charged in the shooting because her husband had a history of physical abuse and that...