Mother’s Day is for giving back, not for taking. This was not the case at Langley Lawn Cemetery, where a grave site was robbed.
The May 8 weekend came and went smoothly for most Langley citizens, but the memory of this past weekend is tainted for Rhonda Blake, as the result of a brazen theft on the day when mothers are celebrated.
On Sunday, Blake went to the Langley Lawn Cemetery, where both of her parents are buried, around 11:30 a.m.
She brought with her a small pink calla lily plant in a frosted green glass vase, eight inches high by eight inches wide, to place at the headstone.
The vase was a unique find, something that Blake had picked up a few days before at a swap meet. It was made even more unique by placing the plant inside.
“There’s no other one out there like it,” she said.
She stayed at the cemetery for about an hour, cleaning up the headstone and wishing her mom a happy Mother’s Day.
The next day, Blake returned to Langley Lawn to find that the vase was missing.
“I had no words,” she said. “It’s just disgusting that someone could do this.”
She was devastated to find that the unique gift had been stolen from her mother’s grave. “I just couldn’t believe how low people can go,” Blake said.
“If some mother out there has this vase, I hope she’s proud,” Blake said.
This sort of thing should be stopped, Blake said, and people need to know about it.
Langley Lawn Cemetery is one of three cemeteries managed by the Township of Langley. It is also responsible for Fort Langley Cemetery and Murrayville Cemetery.
According to Jerry Kotanko, who oversees maintenance for the Township’s parks and recreation, and also oversees cemeteries, this is not an isolated incident, but they often go unreported.
“We do what we can do,” Kotanko said. But the cemetery is often unoccupied on weekends and at night, and there are no security services on site.
In the event of a theft from the grave of a loved one, he asks that people report the incident so that it can be tracked and efforts can be made to prevent further theft.
Suspicious activities within any of the three Township cemeteries should be reported to the Township of Langley or to the cemetery workers on site.