'Sickening': Family frustrated after cemetery removes decades-old gravesite decorations

TITUSVILLE, Fla. - A Central Florida cemetery is cleaning grave sites, but some loved ones believe they’re destroying precious memories. One woman tells FOX 35 News her family lost priceless heirlooms they’ll never see again.  

There are more than 8,000 grave sites at Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens in Titusville, spanning numerous generations. A new sign went up last week, listing the rules for what’s allowed and what isn’t at the sites.

"It’s sickening, it’s literally sickening," said Sandy Gomme who has three loved ones buried at the cemetery. 

On Monday, she was filled with shock and sadness when she found her mom, dad, and brother’s grave sites empty and bare.

She says decades-old mementos were "gone, underneath that pile in the dumpster, of everybody else’s memories." 

Clean-up signs are scattered throughout the cemetery to warn people, but Sandy says she wished they would have done more to prepare grieving families. 

Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens in Titusville.

"This isn’t like changing a lock. This is devastating. This is our lost loved ones. This is part of us in there," she added. 

The cemetery says they need to make sure the sites are safe by removing decorations and other hazards. In a statement sent to FOX 35, the cemetery director says, "We apologize to all our families of Oaklawn cemetery who are just learning about our cemetery clean up.  The cleanup was part of our bylaws written in 1993 and are designed to help ensure that our cemetery remains a place of beautiful reflection and for the safety of our visitors and employees." 

Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens in Titusville.

Sandy says her family's decorations hadn’t been an issue for decades since her brother died 37 years ago. 

"There were some things that had been on my brother’s grave since his death that has never been bothered," she said. 

The director says the pandemic paused clean-up for the past few years, but that moving forward six-month cleanups would be the new normal. 

Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens in Titusville.

In this clean-up, Sandy’s family lost glass angels, special sashes, and other priceless heirlooms in the clean-up. She hopes other families can save what they can before it’s too late. 

"It’s just so coldhearted," Sandy concluded. 

The director says they will do another clean-up like this in March.