Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 1, 1995 TAG: 9507030040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The grief never seems to end for Sherry Smith.
Smith has been tending a rectangular splash of flowers around the grave of her daughter, Melody Ann Caldwell, ever since the brain-damaged girl died in 1993 in a house fire that started in the motor of the hospital bed to which she was confined.
This week, Smith's battle to keep the flowers - despite the cemetery manager's efforts to remove them - heated up again, making its way into the courts.
Last November, Evergreen Burial Park manager Don Wilson told Smith the flowers around her daughter's grave would have to go because they violated the cemetery's rules, which require a clean, conservative appearance. Two weeks ago, Wilson sent a letter to Frank Roupas, who donated the plot for Melody, advising him that the flowers would be removed Friday.
Friday, Smith was still tending her flowers. But she was able to do it only because of an injunction obtained by her attorney, Dan Crandall, barring Evergreen Burial Park from removing the flowers for 30 days. Crandall wants the case to be heard in Roanoke Circuit Court.
With her father, Tom Leffel, watching, Smith trimmed the grass with a hand-held electric clipper and pinched dead blooms from the rows of purple and white petunias.
``I guess people think this is an obsession with us,'' Smith said, rearranging the petunias to cover a bare spot.
``But what people don't understand,'' Leffel chimed in, ``is that this is part of our lives.''
Crandall, who also is representing Smith and Leffel in a pair of civil suits against the manufacturer of the bed that caught fire, believes Smith needs professional bereavement counseling. She can't afford it, so tending the flowers has to act as a substitute.
``She has suffered too much already,'' Crandall said.
Smith's suffering started about seven years ago when Melody, then 15, lost most of her brain in a car accident when her head was thrown onto the gearshift.
She came home from the hospital in June 1993. Four months later, she died in the fire despite Leffel's attempt to carry her to safety. Leffel suffered third-degree burns over 25 percent of his body.
``I feel we've been patient,'' Wilson said. ``Everyone grieves in a different way. ... We just ask [Smith] to obey our rules.''
Wilson said several other plot owners have complained about the flowers. He said the cemetery will abide by the injunction, but said he expects the flowers ultimately to be removed.
Meanwhile, Smith hangs on.
``Maybe one day we can afford to just move her,'' she said wistfully. ``Buy a piece of land and put her out in a whole field of flowers. There's something to keep you going.''
by CNB