It’s never easy to mourn the loss of a parent but a Central Florida family tells WESH 2 their grief was made worse by a graveyard mix-up.When they went to bury their mother they learned there was already a body in her plot.Three sisters are heartbroken over the mix-up at her mother’s grave in Eatonville. It’s something that is hard for the Cobb family to accept.“They deserved to be buried by each other. They loved each other,” Joann Johnson said.Leroy and Bennie Lee Cobb were married 68 years. He was a pastor and she was a much-beloved figure in Eatonville. “Because she was very wise, very loving and kind to everyone,” Patricia Inniss said.The Cobb family says when their father died in 2009, their mother bought two plots in Eatonville Memorial Gardens cemetery. One plot was for her husband and the other was for her. Their mother sadly died New Year’s Day. As the family started making funeral arrangements, they were shocked to learn there was a body already buried in Bennie Lee’s grave.“I was thinking how could something like that happen? Her name is on the headstone,” Johnson said.The organization now in charge of the cemetery was able to find a plot near their father. For now, Bennie Lee’s plot is at the foot of her husband’s grave. “We want our mother beside our dad, not to his feet,” Leetta Cobb Arnold said. How did this happen? The nonprofit in charge of the cemetery says it’s a century old and has changed hands many times. They believe the company that sold the Cobbs the two plots in 2009 didn’t have the legal authority to do it.They say when the Cobb family bought the plots, there was already someone buried where her mother’s grave was supposed to be.The family hopes another family won’t go through what they did.
It’s never easy to mourn the loss of a parent but a Central Florida family tells WESH 2 their grief was made worse by a graveyard mix-up.
When they went to bury their mother they learned there was already a body in her plot.
Three sisters are heartbroken over the mix-up at her mother’s grave in Eatonville. It’s something that is hard for the Cobb family to accept.
“They deserved to be buried by each other. They loved each other,” Joann Johnson said.
Leroy and Bennie Lee Cobb were married 68 years. He was a pastor and she was a much-beloved figure in Eatonville.
“Because she was very wise, very loving and kind to everyone,” Patricia Inniss said.
The Cobb family says when their father died in 2009, their mother bought two plots in Eatonville Memorial Gardens cemetery. One plot was for her husband and the other was for her.
Their mother sadly died New Year’s Day. As the family started making funeral arrangements, they were shocked to learn there was a body already buried in Bennie Lee’s grave.
“I was thinking how could something like that happen? Her name is on the headstone,” Johnson said.
The organization now in charge of the cemetery was able to find a plot near their father. For now, Bennie Lee’s plot is at the foot of her husband’s grave.
“We want our mother beside our dad, not to his feet,” Leetta Cobb Arnold said.
How did this happen?
The nonprofit in charge of the cemetery says it’s a century old and has changed hands many times. They believe the company that sold the Cobbs the two plots in 2009 didn’t have the legal authority to do it.
They say when the Cobb family bought the plots, there was already someone buried where her mother’s grave was supposed to be.
The family hopes another family won’t go through what they did.
