Headstones switched at cemetery; families want graves checked

By

Posted 7:47PM on Saturday, June 15, 2002

MACON - Two women with similar names who died the same year may have been mixed up in a Macon cemetery. Fennie Hughes and Fannie Hughes, both of whom died in 1994, apparently have a grave marker switched, and the family of one of the women wants to make sure the bodies weren't switched, too. A recent death in the family of Fennie Hughes revealed the mix-up at Woodlawn Memorial Park, where both families bought plots only feet apart. A grave marker for Fennie Mae Anthony Hughes lies under a tree in the cemetery. But when her husband, Jessie Hughes, died earlier this month, his body was placed several plots away, not next to his wife as intended. When the family inquired, cemetery officials told them they realized that Fennie Hughes was never buried by the tree, where her headstone lies. Officials said she'd been buried next to her husband's new plot the whole time. Family members were told that Fennie Hughes was in the right place but that her headstone was accidentally placed on the grave of Fannie Hughes, who did not have a headstone. ``I'm just really, really tormented right now. We just want our relatives in the right place,'' daughter Velesia Hughes Curtis told The Macon Telegraph. The children of Fennie and Jessie Hughes aren't taking the cemetery's word that the problem can be fixed by moving the headstone. Several relatives remember holding Fennie Hughes' burial under a tree; others insist that they remember picking out the spot. ``When I got out of the limo, I saw that tree and I remember saying to myself, 'At least Mama will have some shade,' '' said son Carlton Hughes. ``Every time I come out here, that's what I look for, that tree.'' Meanwhile, a relative of Fannie Hughes said she was also buried under that tree. Willie Anderson, Fannie Hughes' grandson, said the family purchased a plot in the same section of Woodlawn. It was to be marked with a simple concrete slab. He, too, remembers the oak tree and parking by it for his grandmother's funeral. The Georgia Secretary of State's Office said Friday it received a complaint about the situation and was investigating. Fred Hasty, who oversees the cemetery, is sure Fennie Hughes is rightly buried next to her husband and that the only error is in the placement of the marker. ``I'm sorry that it's happened and I can understand a lot of their feelings,'' Hasty said. ``At that time, we did not supervise very closely the placement of those (markers). We ran into a lot of trouble with that because there had been some markers put down on the wrong grave site.'' The company that ordered and placed the marker, Clark Memorial, said it checks with Woodlawn before entering the property. ``We depend on other people's records and them showing us where to place the markers,'' said Creston Groover of Clark. The family of Jessie and Fennie Hughes said they will pursue a court order to force Woodlawn to disinter the remains to prove they are in the correct spot.