Dear Editor:
Upon attending my late husband’s grave site at Canyon View Cemetery on Sunday, June 10, I was horrified to discover that maintenance had cleared the entire cemetery of all personal effects such as photos, flowers (organic and synthetic) and in my case, my granddaughter’s painting and a jewelry box.
There was no public announcement of an intended clean up and everything that was collected together was dumped unceremoniously behind a tool shed. I spoke to others whose loved ones’ graves were stripped bare; in many cases, these are the graves of recently deceased individuals. It is unclear to me who came up with this obnoxious plan. Pet cemeteries are given more respect than this.
A grave, and a cemetery, is a sacred site.
It is a reasonable expectation that the maintenance of the cemetery is done in such a way as to respect the deceased and those that are maintaining their memory.
What occurred here is insensitive, tactless and negligent.
I understand the need to maintain a neatly-kept cemetery. But please, do the memory of those buried the courtesy of leaving those personal elements place at a grave site alone.
Margreet Vandersluys
Summerland