Grave-robbing?

Grave-robbing?
Some families angered by removal of mementos from Cortez cemetery

May 24, 2001

MARY COOK kneels by the grave of her son Joseph, who died five years ago at the age of 12. The grave was adorned by matchbox cars, a purple stuffed animal, and a toy pistol until last week, when they disappeared. Cemetery officials say confusion on a new employee’s part resulted in the removal of some items by mistake.

By Kevin Denke
Journal Intern

Mary Cook never thought she could feel pain like that she felt five years ago when her 12-year-old son Joseph died. After last week, she isn’t so sure.

That was when she and many other people with loved ones buried in the Cortez cemetery found that sentimental items they had left at their relatives’ graves had been removed and thrown away.

Now their pain has turned to anger and the families are looking for answers.

When Cook heard from friends that items were being removed at the cemetery, she rushed out to her son’s grave to find his headstone barren. Gone were the matchbox cars he had played with, gone was his toy pistol, and gone was a stuffed animal in his favorite color, purple.

Stunned, she searched the cemetery trash cans, where she found an assortment of items that had been discarded, including tiny American flags, crosses and a cup of candy with a label saying "To: Grandma." But she couldn’t find the cars that had sat undisturbed on her son’s headstone for the better part of five years.

With Joseph’s birthday coming up in July, the disappearance of the mementos hit Cook hard. She says since the items were removed she has cried every night and has had emotional breakdowns.

"My 7-year-old told me he would take his cars out there (to the grave), so I wouldn’t cry any more," she said.

Louise Long knows the feeling, too. Her late husband, Jack, is buried in the cemetery. Last Wednesday, she had put brand-new silk flowers at his grave site. By Thursday afternoon, the flowers she had worked overtime to buy had been thrown away.

She says items left by family members made the cemetery special.

"It always made the Cortez cemetery unique. You could see the heart and soul of a person," said Long. "Do they want it to look like Arlington Cemetery, where every grave is the same?"

Cortez cemetery caretaker Joe Clayton attributes the recent removal of sentimental items from grave sites to a confusion over the cemetery’s policies and a new employee who was unaware of what items — such as the matchbox cars — had been allowed to stay on graves.

He said a member of the board that governs the cemetery district believed many areas in the cemetery were beginning to look "trashy" and that he conducted a walkthrough with Clayton to determine what should stay and what should go.

Clayton said items to be removed that appeared to be valuable were to be written down on a list and placed behind the office where people could retrieve them.

At the same time, a new employee had been hired to help Clayton prepare the cemetery for Memorial Day. During his four years at the cemetery, Clayton said he has established a idea of what should be left on graves and what could possibly be discarded.

Clayton was busy with two funerals on the day his new employee started and didn’t have time to inform her of what could be left on graves, he said. So the employee started doing what she had been instructed to do by Clayton and removed items on and around graves.

Clayton indicated his policy, as well as that of the cemetery board, was to move only those items that interfered with his regular maintenance, such as mowing and weeding.

"I pointed out to the board member that some people would be unhappy," he said.

According to Clayton, the removal of items from graves lasted half a day, last Thursday, and when the criticism started, the removal stopped. He said the matchbox cars were likely on the grave but that he cannot remember seeing them that day.

George Wickstrom, secretary/treasurer for the cemetery board, likewise said he did not know the whereabouts of the cars.

"I can’t answer that question," said Wickstrom on Wednesday.

Alluding to possible theft, Wickstrom added, "People wander through the cemetery all the time."

Wickstrom said the decision to have items removed was made by the three-person cemetery board, based on maintenance concerns.

"Items were removed that were clear out on the grass, and made the grass hard to cut," he said. "We wanted to spruce it up for Memorial Day."

Wickstrom said items on the headstones not interfering with maintenance have been allowed to stay and that rules for the placement of items at the grave site have been published in the Cortez Journal recently.

Clayton said it would have been impossible to contact each family about the cleanup.

"We have about 5,000 entrants on the computer and we can’t call each individual every time we are going to do something," he explained.

Still, Cook called the removal of items a violation.

"How would they would feel if I walked into their house and took something sentimental off their mantel and threw it away?" Cook asked.

Clayton stated that keeping the cemetery clean is an "ongoing process." He admitted that items such as recently placed flowers were probably mistakenly picked up last week and that while his preference would be for plot owners to manage their own areas, at times he must step in.

"If the grave is in complete violation (of existing rules), then we do something. It depends. I don’t like glass items because they are a safety hazard," he explained.

Cook says her family purchased two Weed-eaters to help maintain their grave area and at times they have even helped maintain other graves that are not normally attended to.

"The caretaker does a wonderful job," explained Cook. "He can’t take care of the whole cemetery, though — I don’t know how they expect him to."

Families concerned about the cemetery will have a chance to speak to the county commissioners on Monday, June 4, at 10 a.m. in the county courthouse.