by James Coulter
A few weeks ago, Diana Koloc visited the grave of her late infant son, Xavier, who had passed away 14 years ago as a stillborn baby 38 and a half weeks into her pregnancy.
She discovered that his grave marker had been covered by debris from fresh graves dug nearby and buried several inches deep in the ground.
Diana had visited the cemetery office and even visited city hall to complain about the situation, yet she felt her complaint had fallen upon deaf ears.
Shortly after we published an article about her situation, and several other readers aired their own grievances about the city cemetery in the comments, Diana discovered the city had cleaned up her son’s grave site.
When she visited her son’s grave site the following afternoon of the article, she noticed several workers driving to the office in the back of the cemetery and from the direction of her son’s grave site. She saw that the grave marker had not only been raised, but polished.
“It looks like a brand new grave,” she said.
Although she would like to believe that her situation was handled after she had contacted the city, she feels it was most likely the news article and the public feedback it generated that prompted the city.
“I would love to think that they did it because we contacted them,” she said. “The timing makes me feel it came from the article, I feel that if they read the article with the comments, they would see that there are a lot of people that are concerned about the cemetery.”
When her story was published on the Daily Ridge, several residents posted their comments on Facebook airing their own frustrations about the lack of upkeep at the city cemetery.
“My dad is buried down to the left of this baby and the same thing happens with his headstone all the time,” one user wrote. “I live in Georgia and have no one to take care of it and every time we visit, the headstone is literally in the ground and we have to dig it out.”
“I know when I’ve come home, I’ve had to cut limbs away from my aunts stone,” another user wrote. “We did not plant the tree but we have to cut it. Last time I was home it was cut back. I guess they didn’t like the way I cut it.”
Diana had frequently visited the cemetery following her son’s passing. She did not visit as often this past year due to road construction.
“When I would visit the new section of the cemetery, there were ants, no trees, no benches,” she said. “It was hard to visit when it was not peaceful and inviting. It makes that time harder to
really meditate and be peaceful as a garden would be.” Xavier is in the original section of the cemetery.
She had chosen a flat stone marker for her son’s grave site due to city regulations about the type of markers permitted in certain locations in the cemetery.
Unfortunately, the cemetery’s current level of upkeep (or rather, lack thereof) has left her feeling concerned, but she is hopeful because of the city’s swift actions after the article this week.
Diana has floated the idea of a watchdog group to routinely patrol the cemetery grounds every month or so and report any problems or issues with the city.
“I would like some conversation about how we can make sure it does not happen again, and what can we do together to make sure the cemetery is honoring our loved ones and making it a place that we would want to visit” she said.
The City of Lake Wales Cemetery Division can be contacted at 863-678-4182.
