First, I would like to thank Sandy Mair for the wonderful letter she wrote a few weeks ago in reference to the Tooele City Cemetery. She and I are a lot alike in the sense that we both visit our deceased love ones often.
I am sad and angry at the way our Tooele City Cemetery looks. It is a shame to go up there and see all the beautiful flowers that are surrounded by dead grass. I have heard all the excuses that there is a new crew up there that didn’t know the sprinkling system. That is a poor excuse for the lack of care that is being shown. And on another note, I realize that there is a time limited for the amount of time that things can be left on grave sites: seven days if I remember correctly. But I think it is terrible that the crew goes along and also removes things that are on the top of the headstones (yes, this happened to my folks’ grave). The items that are placed on the headstones, which is approximately six inches high, and are not in the way of the mowers, and since the grass is dead, they are not in the way of sprinklers. I go up for all events and trim around my parents’ headstone because the crew does not do this. Something needs to be done; this used to be a beautiful cemetery. I can’t believe the mayor or other city officials have not done something to improve the looks of the grass. Don’t they have family or friends to rest there?
My father passed away in 2004 and my mother in 2005. Since this time my sister and I have made numerous calls to the cemetery. We were given promise after promise that their lawn would be nicely fixed; however, this never happened. We have taken it upon ourselves to apply grass seed and we fertilize it every year. However, this still has not seemed to help at all. I actually feel like we are back in the day when I assisted my father taking care of his parents’ and brothers’ cemetery lots (we pulled weeds, etc.). What is the crew being paid for may I ask?
Jolene Pannunzio Stalliviere
Tooele