What happened to respect for the dead?
Published 10:25 pm Wednesday, August 8, 2001
By Staff
To the editor:
I know this isn't a problem only at Oak Hill Cemetery, but I would like for some attention to be brought to the fact of vandalism of gravesites. It is a shame that you can't put momentos on your loved one's grave and expect it to remain there.
In the past few months, my mother passed away and was buried at Oak Hill. I put an angel statue on her grave and one on my father's grave. Recently, I went by and someone had stolen both statues as well as a concrete vase from my aunt's gravesite that had been there for about 40 years. Also on my grandparents' gravesite were some seashells that had been there for 50 years.
What would anyone want with a small marker that was on the foot of my father's grave? What good would it be to anyone, especially since it had his initials on it?
What has happened to respect for the dead? Why are children allowed to ride bicycles over the graves? I was always taught to respect the gravesite and I taught my children the same.
What kind of a person would take flowers from a grave? Why can't people respect the rights of someone to show their love for their departed loved ones? Maybe someone would like to respond.
Lynda Amerson
Pensacola