My husband’s youngest sister, Betty, passed away a couple of weeks ago. She had been hospitalized with Covid-19. Betty’s health has never been good. She was filled with joy and love for all her family–writing poems that celebrated their lives and family events.
The funeral was Saturday, 31 October 2020. And it was a beautiful service. We all wore masks and social distanced as we had been asked to do. Then we left for the Bountiful City Cemetery, where Betty was to be laid to rest surrounded by her family and loved ones.
As we pulled up near the family plot, I looked out the window at the canopy and chairs, the vault and its cover awaited our arrival. Something was not right–the gave vault was not near the right graves.
My husband, Alma, and I share a tombstone base with Betty and her husband, Roger. The grave was in the wrong place!
“Are you sure,” the mortician inquired? “Well, there is your evidence,” I replied. “My tombstone is on the left side of the base, and the right side of the base is vacant. More, importantly, my stone is still in place. To dig the grave and position the vault, my tombstone would have to be temporarily removed. And it’s still there.”
The Celebration of Betty’s life was stopped. They called the cemetery office and asked for the Sexton. He had to be summoned from home. So we continued the service, dedicating the grave (in the right place) and taking pictures of everyone who attended. And laughing merrily at the Halloween mistake. And we all knew that
Betty was looking down from Heaven laughing with us–she loved a good joke!
When the Sexton arrived, he had the maps of the plot and the cemetery. The grave had been prepared at the right of Alma Dorus Eakle. Which was technically correct–BUT, there are two Alma Dorus Eakle graves in the Bountiful City Cemetery–Senior and Junior. The grave was dug on the right side of Senior and I was married to and share a tombstone with Junior!
What a Halloween surprise our family shared on Saturday. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com
PS Who knows what mischief lurks in the cemetery on Halloween?