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Teen's headstone repossessed
Filed under: Teens
The death of a family member is painful under any circumstance, but losing a child takes pain to a whole new level. Ask my mother. I vividly remember after my brother's death seeing my parents struggle to put their grief aside long enough to handle the logistical - and financial - aspects of planning his funeral. This was left mostly for my dad to sort out, as was most other financial dealings in our household.A large part of the expense of burying a loved one is the headstone. This is generally a separate transaction from the other funeral arrangements. And they don't have these things made up and ready to go - in my family, we paid a deposit on a headstone that was finally placed on my brother's grave months after he was buried. Because of my own experience, I can see how forgetting to pay for that last expense can happen.
I imagine a similar scenario played out for the Conger family after their 17-year-old son Brady died in a car accident in 2006. They ordered a headstone for his grave from Memorial Art Monument, but never paid the $750 balance after the marker was placed.
The company attempted to collect the money by sending bills, but those were returned. They couldn't reach the Congers, so they repossessed the headstone. As Linda Anderson of Memorial Art Monument points out, headstone-making is a business. "If we give every stone to everybody, we'd be out of business. They'd repossess your car if you didn't make payment," she says.
She's right, of course. But it is hard to imagine the additional pain the Congers suffered because of this business decision. But here is the nice ending to the story - Brady Conger's classmates got together and raised the money to pay the bill and the headstone will be replaced.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
8-01-2007 @ 4:54PM
Nancy Toby said...Um, if they couldn't afford it shouldn't they have ordered a cheaper one? There are lots of markers available that don't cost $750. We lost a child too, and didn't spend that.
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8-01-2007 @ 4:46PM
LS said...Not really sure what you expect... yes, it's a sad story, but Ms. Anderson has a point - if they gave out the headstones, they would go out of business, then nobody would have their grave marked.
The family was unreachable. The business acted in good faith, and when they weren't paid, they had no other choice. Nice that the community pitched in, though. Warm fuzzy ending, and I'm happy that all is well.
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8-01-2007 @ 4:49PM
Jenna said...I disagree with the previous commenter. What did the company gain by repossessing the already engraved headstone? They couldn't resell it to someone else. They were trying to make a point. True, point made that they can't just give out headstones to everyone and yes, cost is involved. But, really? Do like every other business, hunt down the non-paying offenders via social security number or any various tactics and take them to court.
It's highly unlikely that another Brady Conger was born and died on those dates. Repossession was a lame attempt at making a point.
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8-01-2007 @ 5:40PM
SKL said...I agree with LS. If one person got away with not paying, a bunch of others would try it too. That is theft. The fact that it's a headstone doesn't change it. Personally I can't imagine why someone would want such a negative act (theft) associated with their child's grave. I would use a home-made headstone if it came to that.
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8-02-2007 @ 9:43AM
Amy said...What is so shocking to me, is that his parents didn't pay the bill. Of all the bills you could possibly blow off, I would say your sons gravestone would not be one of them. They take payments, so the parents are at fault. I don't blame the company for taking it back.
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