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Taphophilia (dot) Com...
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Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
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Kin worry whether loved ones bodies are in cemetery |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Friday, 20 January 2006 |
Los Angeles, CA, 1/20/2006
Cemetery state worries kin
By Jason Kandel, Staff Writer
GLENDALE - When his wife's aunts were buried years ago at Grand View Memorial Park, David Olson had no doubt they would rest there in peace, along with six other relatives.
Now he's not so sure.
A few years ago, he said, the family visited the cemetery and found the aunts' grave sites disturbed. One grave marker was leaning against a tree, the other tossed aside.
He asked a cemetery worker about it, and was told the markers had been moved so they wouldn't be damaged as the cemetery prepared another grave site.
The next time the family visited, the markers had been replaced in the ground, but five feet from the original grave sites. The family never got a clear explanation of what happened.
"It makes me think that there was something suspicious going on during that time," said Olson, 81, a retired Burbank High School teacher.
"I want to be with the rest of the relatives, but unless they get it running correctly, efficiently and legally, then I'm not sure we want any other relatives buried there, including me. It's aggravating. We all feel some mental stress over the situation."
Olson and others are questioning the whereabouts of deceased family members interred at Grand View, whose operators have been accused in a lawsuit of removing remains from graves, discarding grave markers and reusing graves.
The suit filed by Veronica Simmons, whose grandparents are buried at the 121-year-old cemetery, claims the operators "violated the legal duties owed to plaintiff by disinterring, mutilating, mishandling and otherwise mistreating the remains of decedents who were interred at Grand View Memorial Park."
Simmons' suit claims unspecified damages for a number of issues, including breach of contract, negligence and unfair trade practices.
Tina Mangarpan, the attorney representing Grand View in the Simmons case, did not return a call seeking comment.
Milton Friedman, the director of legal administration overseeing Simmons' case, has been talking to relatives of others interred at Grand View who are concerned about the fate of their loved ones.
"This is to see when the burials were, how many there were," he said. "Some of these people have eight, 10, 15 family members buried at the cemetery. They know when the person died, when they were buried or cremated, and whether they were put into the mausoleum. So these are the kinds of questions that we ask."
Grand View is also being investigated by the state Consumer Affairs Department, which during an inspection last year found the cremated remains of an estimated 4,000 people in storage rooms, a trash bin, on the floor and mixed with other remains.
Consumer Affairs officials also allege shoddy record-keeping, and said they believe cemetery President Marsha Lee Howard, secretary Moshe Goldsman and two trustees resold grave sites and "loaned" themselves $40,000 from the cemetery's endowment care fund, which was set up for grounds maintenance, records show.
Howard did not return calls seeking comment.
In an interview, Goldsman, who replaced Howard as the interim manager while the investigation is under way, said Grand View is cooperating with state authorities and working with families.
"We're dealing with it the best we can," said Goldsman, who did not address the specific allegations. "We have a dedicated staff. We're trying to help families the best we can right now."
State officials shut down new business in November and ordered the operators not to sell new graves. Grand View operators are due in court Jan. 19 for a permanent resolution to the Consumer Affairs case.
Kevin Flanagan, a spokesman for Consumer Affairs, tried to calm concerns of those who have loved ones interred at Grand View.
"Most, if not all, of the cremated remains are of people who were indigent or whose families never picked up their remains to begin with," Flanagan said. "Obviously, when something like this happens, it always puts a little bit of doubt in a person's mind: Is that really Grandma or Grandpa that was given back to me?
"And the answer to that is, we have every reason to believe it was, but obviously, that doubt is nagging."
It has been bothering Louise Mixon, 74, of Simi Valley, whose grandparents, parents and aunt were cremated and interred there.
"As far as I know, they were encrypted," said the retired insurance assistant underwriter, who became concerned when she read about the allegations against the cemetery. "I haven't been there in many, many years. I'm wondering, are they where they requested?
"As far as I know, their remains are behind the wall. I don't know. I just don't know."
Thousand Oaks resident Dorothy Sinclair, 71, also wonders about the ultimate fate of her grandparents and parents, who are buried at Grand View.
"It was always depressing to go there because the grounds and the markers were so neglected," said Sinclair, a retired secretary. "You couldn't even read the markers. They were covered with mud and grass.
"It's very upsetting to think that maybe their bodies were removed and their graves were resold. I don't believe my parents' and grandparents' spirits are there. But I'd like to know that their remains are resting in peace and not being disturbed."
Jason Kandel, (818) 546-3306
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_3403785 |
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Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“Ay, but to die and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstrution and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice; To be impison'd in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendant world.” William Shakespeare -
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
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