WINNIPEG – It’s difficult enough to bury a loved one, but imagine having to go through the process twice for the same person.
A Manitoba family was horrified to learn their father, who died on Christmas day and was laid to rest in early January, was buried in the wrong gravesite.
Dan Griffith, 62, died suddenly. It was a heartbreaking loss for his family.
What made the death even more difficult to process, is that 10 days after saying their final goodbyes and placing Griffith in the ground, the family was asked to dig up their father’s body and move him.
“I received a call from the reeve of Deloraine-Winchester and was advised through that phone call that apparently the plot where my dad was already buried on Jan. 4 had been previously sold to other members of the community,” said one of his daughters Amanda Griffith-Conway.
Griffith-Conway says she was in disbelief when she was told a mapping error was responsible for the mistake.
She contacted the other family involved in an effort to work it out, however, there is limited room in the graveyard and the other family already has loved ones buried close by and they don’t want to give up the plot.
She says they want them to move their father.
“We’re definitely working with a lawyer right now to see what our options are, but we don’t know a lot of what the outcome is going to be at this point,” she said.
Griffith-Conway says her father was a highly respected member of the community who wouldn’t wish this situation on anyone.
Due to COVID-19, a regular funeral wasn’t possible, but community members lined their cars up in an honour guard, lining the route from the town’s centre to the cemetery.
Griffith-Conway says any closure they had from laying him to rest is gone now.
“We were just kind of starting to take a couple of steps forward in the process of grieving and mourning and getting back to work and trying to get routine back in our lives and all of sudden we get this call and were pretty much right back to square one again.”
CityNews reached out to the municipality offices of Deloraine-Winchester, which did not respond to the interview request.
As for the family, they are just hoping this all gets sorted out sooner rather than later, as it’s caused a lot of stress, during an already difficult time.
