Conditions at cemetery criticized
FRANKLIN TWP — When Bob Tirk visited the graves of his aunt and uncle at Greenlawn Burial Estates & Mausoleum on Memorial Day, he said he had to wear rain boots to walk through the mud and water.
Tirk, 67, of Eau Claire has visited the grave sites for years, and said the conditions of the northeast corner where his family members are buried are poor.
After days of heavy rain, Tirk said he saw water on several flat grave markers that made them unreadable, while the grass was soaked with water and caked with mud.
“I just think this area should be maintained better,” Tirk said. “The dead can't speak for themselves.”
Tirk's uncle and aunt, Claire Baughman who died in 1978 and Gertrude Baughman who died in 2002, were both from Butler Township and wanted to be buried in Greenlawn.
“They just loved this place out here,” Tirk said.
“It's a low-lying area of the cemetery,” said John McNamara, director of investor relations of StoneMor Partners, which owns the cemetery. “When it rains a lot it's going to flood. We do the best we can to manage that but we can't control the weather.”
Harry Neel, chairman of the Consumer Service Committee for Pennsylvania Cemeteries and co-owner of Jefferson Memorial Cemetery in Pittsburgh, said that sometimes consumers “expect the unreasonable” when it comes to cemetery upkeep.
“Sometimes when you get days of rain or, in some parts of the county, you get three inches of rain in one hour, every low-lying spot in my cemetery is mushy like a sponge,” he said. “Nature just doesn't drain it off that fast. Sometimes people expect miracles that they couldn't do in their backyard.”
The Consumer Service Committee handles questions and complaints consumers have about cemeteries. Neel said common complaints he gets are related to high grass and tree limbs that have fallen.
A liquid sheen was over some of the Greenlawn grave markers, but McNamara said there was no oil spill in the area. He also said he was not aware of any previous complaints about this part of the cemetery.
Neel noted that it can be difficult to clean off every grave marker because of the sheer volume of them. He also said grave markers are the owners' personal property, and it's not the cemetery's obligation to clean off the markers. However, Neel tries to go above and beyond.
“I do my best to help the family because that's just what we do,” he said.
Paul Simms, owner of Butler County Memorial Park Cemetery and Mausoleum, noted an incentive to keeping the cemetery in good shape.
“Our cemetery is basically our showroom,” he said. “If our cemetery is unkempt, we don't sell cemetery lots, and if we don't sell lots we've got problems.”
McNamara said there are no plans to deal with flooding following rain.
“To the extent that we're not aware of a specific problem, we don't have specific plans to fix it,” McNamara said. “But we'll try to manage the flooding the best we can.”
