During the last few years of his life, Jack London’s health declined rapidly from the effects of failing kidneys. On November 22, 1916, at only forty years old, after a brief coma, Jack died. His death certificate states that the cause was “Uraemia following renal colic.”
After cremation in Oakland and a brief memorial service at the ranch, Jack’s ashes were laid to rest on a small knoll overlooking the Valley of the Moon. The knoll is also the gravesite of the pioneer Greenlaw children, David (who died in 1876) and Lillie (who died in 1877).
Jack once remarked to his wife Charmian and his sister Eliza, “I wouldn’t mind if you laid my ashes on the knoll where the Greenlaw children are buried. And roll over me a red boulder from the ruins of the Big House.”
On November 26, 1916, in a silent ceremony, Charmian London placed her husband’s ashes on the chosen knoll under a large rock from the Wolf House. After she passed away in 1955, Charmian’s ashes were laid under the same rock, next to Jack.