To the editor:
On Monday, June 23, my sister Barbara Burnett discovered someone had stolen a large pot of flowers from our parents’ grave at Fairmount Cemetery. The planter was there when my other sister, Opal Marquis, visited the grave two days earlier. Ruth and Ray Smith, nursery owners in the area and parents-in-law of my niece, had given us a gorgeous arrangement — made with the same kinds of flowers Mom had always ordered for Dad’s grave in years past: salmon-colored geraniums and blue lobelia in a large, round planter.
Our mother, Cassie Roix, was buried there November 17 — just seven months ago. We did plantings on the grave the end of May while I was visiting Presque Isle to help sort through Mom’s things. We also placed the planter given by the Smiths on the grave.
How sad and pathetic is it that individuals would steal things from a grave? What a thoughtless, cowardly, unimaginable act of desecration and a lack of morals. Last fall, a glass ornament also disappeared from the same grave. What pleasure will these common thieves receive from taking/using things placed on graves to show love and honor for those we’ve lost? Shame on them.
Is there nothing we can do to put a stop to this kind of petty thievery that causes more grief for those who are already grieving? If anyone saw a planter suddenly appear June 21-24 fitting the above description, please call 768-6941 or 762-3127.
Beverly, Mass.
