‘Heartbreaking.’ Families say gravesites suddenly cleared of flowers and trees at Port Jervis cemetery
Many families say they were never contacted before plantings were removed.
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Families visiting St. Mary’s Cemetery on East Main Street in Port Jervis say they were devastated to find trees, flowers and memorial gardens suddenly removed from gravesites there last month.
News 12 spoke exclusively with several people impacted who gathered in a group of nearly a dozen people at the cemetery Friday to share their stories.
Laurie Haas has been visiting her mother’s grave for decades, a ritual that always brought her peace. But now, she says the cemetery looks and feels different.
“They cut down the tree my daughter planted for her grandmother when she was 2 years old,” Haas tells News 12. “She’s 32 now. For them to take something like that away after all these years. It's just heartbreaking.”
Many families say they were never contacted before plantings were removed.
Patty Norrell, whose parents, grandparents and aunt are buried at St. Mary’s, says she found out only after seeing her plants removed and small trees cut down to stumps.
“The way they went about it is totally wrong and heartless,” Norrell says. “I had a rhododendron bush that had been there for decades. It was just gone.”
Terri and Keith Parrish are the only people who met with News 12 who say they were notified shortly before trees were cleared from their son’s grave.
Their son died in 2011, and for more than a decade they’ve decorated his plot as a memorial garden. They showed News 12 a photo of what it once looked like — a space filled with flowers, seasonal plants and decorations.
“This is my outlet for grief,” Terri Parrish says. “Planting his garden is how I let out my emotion. For them to take this from me is heart-wrenching.”
The couple says what remains now is bare dirt, with their plantings and memorial trees cut down to stumps. Keith Parrish says the church's deacon explained that trees and shrubs were against regulations and made it difficult for outside contractors to mow the lawn.
News 12 called St. Mary’s Church in Port Jervis and left a message for the deacon asking about the policy and why families weren’t given more options. So far, we have not heard back.
Families say that caring for their loved ones' gravesites has been their way of continuing to care for them. Now, they say that small sense of peace has been taken away.
“It feels like losing them all over again,” Terri Parrish says.
