Each year since my son’s death in 1985, I have placed a wreath on his grave on his birthday (Dec. 5) and left it until after Christmas. This year, my daughter came from Wyoming to help me place the wreath and to place one of her own. On Dec. 7, I visited the grave and both wreaths were gone. I assumed they were stolen, so I called the cemetery office to let them know and to suggest that they keep a watch. They told me to come to the cemetery office and look behind their shed because a number of wreaths had been removed by cemetery personnel. They indicated that there was a policy that you could only place items on the grave five days prior to or after the deceased person’s birthday. We asked why our decorations had been removed since we had followed the policy they explained — not even knowing about the 10-day rule. The representative said that because of the warm weather the cemetery personnel were working on the sprinklers. For that reason they advised us not to put the items back on the grave or they may be removed again. In the entire quadrant where my son’s grave is located, the ground was completely undisturbed. I consider my son’s grave to be a sacred and hallowed place, and I believe most people with deceased loved ones feel similarly. Might I suggest that the Christmas season is not the very best time for those trusted to take care of the cemetery to remove decorations from graves?
Veda Dickerson
Tooele