Joliet Cemetery Dumps Grave Decorations Into Outdoor Trash Pile

JOLIET, IL — On Saturday afternoon, Becky Sasser Mast made a visit to Joliet's Elmhurst Cemetery at 1212 East Washington Street. She has gone here the past 12 years, but Saturday was different. Saturday turned into a horrible, stressful experience that still has her reeling. Her son's memorials were gone from his grave. But this wasn't grave robbers. This was done intentionally, by Elmhurst Cemetery's grounds crew.

"I was running errands in the area with my 10-year-old and we stopped in," Sasser Mast informed Joliet Patch.

The Joliet native, who now lives around Plainfield, posted several photos of the Elmhurst Cemetery dump pile on her Facebook page. Additionally, she and others reached out to Joliet Patch to draw attention to the issue.

"I’m asking that you let people know that if they have family buried at Elmhurst Cemetery, the cemetery has taken everything off the graves and thrown it into piles by their work shed," Sasser Mast said. "My son has been buried there for over 12 years and this is the first time they have stated that items are not allowed. There was no warning. Happened to visit Saturday and was shocked."

On her Facebook wall, she shared the following message with others.

"So upset," she proclaimed. "Without any warning they changed the rules and are not allowing anything other than the stone ... They even took small grave markers that indicated veteran or firefighter. We were able to find a couple of Clayton’s things and brought them home. Here is a picture we took of his grave a few months ago. Every thing is gone except the headstone."

Over the weekend, hundreds of people who saw Becky Sasser Mast's photos of the Elmhurst Cemetery trash pile were livid. Here's a tiny sampling of their comments posted on social media:

"I’m so sorry, that is just terrible."

"That is so heartbreaking.... this is a place for your son to rest and for you to visit... it’s your little piece calm How dare they take stuff that means so much to you and treat it as garbage. So Disrespectful. I’m truly sorry your having to deal with this."

"Omg I have no words!! I am so sorry! I want to call and scream at them or worse for you!!!!"

"Sorry you have to go through this. We all love Clayton and what they did is awful!! The world is changing and so insensitive to others, even graves. It doesn’t get any lower!!"

At 10:30 p.m. Sunday, in direct response to the blistering criticism, representatives of Joliet's Elmhurst Cemetery issued a long statement on their Facebook page.

"To the Elmhurst Cemetery families we serve, thank you for your feedback regarding the fall clean-up. While the criticism is hard to read, it's better to have people who care about the cemetery versus not caring at all. First, please accept our heartfelt and sincere apologies for any distress we may have caused you. It was certainly not our intention to upset anyone and our staff feels badly that we have disappointed you. Please let us offer an explanation."

Elmhurst went on to explain that it does not have contact information for everyone who visits the cemetery. "... We felt signage was the only effective way to communicate the rules regarding decorations and the clean-up schedule with everyone would who be affected.

"To that end, a large sign with this information was posted near the entrance in June."

Elmhurst even posted a photo of this sign on its Facebook page to justify its recent actions.

"Clearly, this method of communicating did not work as intended and for that we are deeply sorry," Elmhurst announced on social media.

According to Elmhurst, practically all cemeteries around the Chicago area have similar rules regarding gravesite decorations. During the winter, such memorials "turn into serious tripping hazards for others when those objects are covered by snow," the statement read. "Other visitors complain about decorations that look unsightly after being left on a grave for a long period of time."

Actually, Elmhurst explained, its cemetery clean-up process did not begin this weekend, but actually about a month ago.

So, what did Elmhurst officials have to say about that pile of gravesite mementos that were discarded as trash?

"Our grounds crew could've done a better job keeping the items laid out in a more orderly fashion during this time. While their performance in this area was far from perfect, their hearts and intentions were in the right place," cemetery officials wrote on Facebook.

Images from Elmhurst Cemetery in Joliet supplied via Becky Sasser Mast