HUMBLE, Texas – If you’ve ever lost a loved one you know how painful that can be, and now, one man from the Humble area said the cemetery where his grandmother was buried back in April has made his grief worse.
Not only did Compassion Anderson tell KPRC 2′s Deven Clarke that Rosewood Memorial Park put his grandmother’s headstone on the wrong plot but he also said that when they moved it to the right plot, they put it at her feet instead of at her head.
While the cemetery admits to the first mistake, they say the rest is a misunderstanding.
“She was everyone’s mother,” Anderson said about his grandmother, Carolyn Fleming. She was the mother of the church, she was my world, she raised me.”
When she was falling ill with Dementia and Alzheimer’s, Anderson said he sat down with her to make sure her final arrangements were just what she wanted.
“We talked about this (Rosewood Memorial Park) cemetery here. So when the time came, I came here and I purchased her plot,” he said.
Anderson said he also purchased a headstone for around $3,000.
“And so I told them, ‘Let me know when you guys get ready to put it down because I want to be able to be here to see that moment,’” he said.
But months later, he says he got a call that the headstone had already been put down. When he went to his grandmother’s grave the next day, it wasn’t there.
“We were looking like, ‘Where’s the stone?’ he said. “Because when we got to the grave, it was still the original stuff we had out (like the) flowers. So we had to walk 25 to 30 feet (and) her stone was on someone else’s grave.”
While Anderson said the stone was eventually moved to the right grave, he was met with more disappointment.
“They put it on her feet instead of her head,” he said.
Rosewood Memorial Park admitted to misplacing the headstone originally but employees disagree that it’s now at the foot of Fleming’s grave.
They sent KPRC 2 the following statement.
“Rosewood is a family-owned cemetery and has been in business for 97 years. The cemetery marker for Carolyn Fleming is placed at her head. The entire section she is in has all markers placed at the head. All burials are with the head to the west and the feet to the east. The marker can be placed to be read from standing at the feet or standing at the head but they are all placed at the head. We originally placed the marker to be read from the feet. After meeting with Compassion and his mother on Monday, we honored their request to turn the marker so it would be read from the head. We could not accommodate them and place the marker at her feet which is what they requested when I met them on Monday. That would interfere with other markers to be placed and be against our rules and regulations for that cemetery section. We have tried to work with them and have done what was requested.”
Anderson said he still isn’t convinced.
“Because I know the business. When we came out here, everyone was here, if this was her foot we would’ve been on the opposite side of the tent,” he said. “I don’t know what to believe no more.”
Amid all the confusion, Anderson said one thing that could help him get through this is if Rosewood were to offer a sincere apology, and since he said that hasn’t happened, he’s considering canceling the other plot of land he purchased here for another loved one who passes away in the future.