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TYRONE, Ga. - A cemetery owner apologized to a grieving mother after what happened at her daughter’s gravesite at the Sharon Memorial Gardens in Tyrone. Huge tire tracks were left across Haley Robert’s grave, when cemetery workers drove across to dig in a plot adjacent to the site. The 22-year old died in an automobile accident April 17, 2017.
Shanna Roberts, Haley’s mother, got quick action when she took to social media to show what happened. Deep tire ruts left behind by the cemetery truck were seen in a photograph. Ms. Roberts told FOX 5 News she comes to this Tyrone cemetery at least twice a week to be with Haley.
“It looks better,” she said about the repairs to her daughter’s grave. “They did the best they could.”
Workers laid new sod Thursday morning. The owner of Sharon Memorial Gardens also telephoned to apologize for the condition she discovered when came to Haley’s gravesite on Wednesday.
“It made me sick and I just started crying,” Roberts said about seeing the grave for the first time.
Shanna Roberts posted the picture on a community Facebook page and the post sparked more than a hundred angry responses.
Ms. Roberts said she had complained immediately to the cemetery owner, but she said without satisfaction.
The cemetery owner told FOX 5 News, a crew digging a grave on Sunday near Haley’s plot tried to access the area by going behind it. But the weather conditions, with more than two inches of rain falling on Fayette County, made it impossible. The new grave was being prepared for a service the next day on Monday.
WCS Properties told FOX 5 News:
“It has never been our policy to be disrespectful to a person or gravesite. Unfortunately, in this situation, the weather and conditions did not allow us the options to serve another family to get access to their gravesite.
“We were able to contact Ms. Roberts and offer an apology and make repairs to her satisfaction.”
While Shanna Roberts said she appreciates the repairs and the apology, she regrets the pain that the incident has caused her over the last 24 hours.