A cemetery has removed the headstone from a 4-year-old boy’s grave after receiving a complaint. The complaint came from another family who said that the marker was not keeping with the rest of the cemetery.
The mother is outraged.
Max Cobett-Gardner was only 4-years-old when he passed away because of complications from epilepsy. His mother, Jo Corbett-Weeks, 42, had saved up over $4,500 for a custom headstone. It was a star with a teddy bear and included a tribute to the child.
The headstone was erected to commemorate what would have been his 7th birthday. 3 days after it was put in place, it was removed by Worcestershire council chiefs.
“It would have been Max’s seventh birthday on the Sunday, and this was like a birthday present to him from me. I chose a star-shaped stone because I wanted something suitable for Max – something personal. This stone is just so perfect for my poor little chap”
A family had complained to the town council, claiming that the headstone was not “in keeping” with the rest of the cemetery. The stone was removed without the knowledge or concent of the mother.
“I was totally unaware this was going on. The council did not contact me and it was the stonemason who told me he’d been ordered to remove it,” Corbett-Weeks explained. “I feel upset, distressed and angry. We have been through so much as a family. I could understand if the grave was uncared for or unsightly, but it isn’t.
“The headstone meant a lot to me and the family but now we are fighting to have it put back,” she said. “It’s a horrible situation. We just want to have somewhere to grieve.”
The headstone had been placed in the adult area of the cemetery. They chose to have their son buried in that section so he could be close to other family members.
The council claims that permission for the stone to be erected would not have been given to the stonemason if the application for the stone had been received in time. They also said that if the stone had been put in the children’s area of the cemetery, it would have been permitted.
“We have a conformity of shapes in our lawn cemetery. We were contacted by people who objected to the shape,” a Malvern Town Council spokesman explained. “The longer it stayed up, the harder the process would have been.
“It was a very difficult decision to remove it but one we had to make straight away,” the spokesman said.
They also added that the complaint was not about the shape of the stone but was about following protocol.
‘It wasn’t necessarily an objection to the shape but why we appeared to be applying one rule to one family and other rules to another,” the spokesman continued. “The stonemason in this situation did not have permission to put the stone up – and the stone is not in keeping with the graves in that area.
“By not following the correct process he has caused considerable distress to both families,” the spokesman concluded.
The council is planning on meeting with the family to discuss a new design for the headstone.
Via: America Now
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