FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2008
8:15 AM

Yesterday was a very interesting day in the cemetery business. On Wednesday of this week Theda told me that we had a burial in the cemetery some time in the next few days. The family planned to meet with the funeral director on Thursday. She informed me that she was having trouble locating the lot for the deceased. She had called the funeral home and asked them to have the family contact her about the lot.

Later in the day she told me that she had talked with a member of the family and she thought that she had cleared up the problem. The family planned to visit her on Thursday to make sure that everything was ok. She prepared a map for me to mark the grave.

The family came in and after discussions Theda was confident with the information she had. She did say that the family had told her that the markers in that area of the cemetery did not line up.

I always go to the cemetery as soon as I know the location of the grave plot to make sure that there are no problems. I went to the cemetery to check out lot. I discovered that there was probably not enough room for the grave between the existing graves, that had already been used, and the space left. I reported that to Theda and we discussed our options.

I called Jerry and asked him to meet me at the cemetery and bring a probe. Jerry probed the location and my greatest fear was realized. There was not enough room for another grave in the spot.

I came back to the office and ask Theda to call the funeral home and get a phone number to reach the family. She was on the phone when a member of the family came in the office to pay for the opening and closing. Theda and I explained the problem to the family member. We informed the family member that we could not have a grave in the location that had been purchased. We offered the another plot that was close to the other lots that the family had purchased. The family member was very understanding and said that she was pleased with our solution. This pleased me. In fact we had no choice. There was not enough room in the purchased lot to place a vault.

I had called Lynn and asked him to meet me at the cemetery. I asked him to be a backup for me to mark graves when I was not able to handle the marking. He agreed that he would be happy to be a back up for me marking graves. I explained to him the problem that we had with this particular grave and I wanted him to work with me until he feels comfortable marking graves. I told him that most of the time everything goes smooth with no problems, but there have been occasions when there are problems. He said that he understood and would be happy to assist me. I am glad that he is willing to help me out.