Personal Injury Attorneyin Moncks Corner, SC.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCSC) - The alleged delay in installing gravesite markers at a Moncks Corner cemetery is causing upset among loved ones.

Edna Essington and her brother, William Champion, purchased burial plots at Plantation Memorial Gardens in 1987. As of April 23 of that year, the plot and marker were paid for, according to internment records.

Champion passed in August of 2023. The family designed his marker with a steam engine train car, the same figurine he was buried with.

Fifteen months later, his marker is still missing.

“We signed a contract with them, my parents, my brother, myself, my sister and her husband,” Essington said. “It’s been so long since Bill passed away in August, to now, and nothing.”

Essington claimed she spoke to the cemetery staff in October and they told her the foundry did not have a set date for delivery or installation.

“Waited, waited and waited. I called again, and they told me the foundry they ordered his headstone from was holding it up,” Essington said. “I don’t know what to do from here. I really don’t.”

In a state hearing in September, overhead company Faithful Heritage Holdings testified issues with the bronze company which makes certain gravesite markers. The group also testified to having a full-time on-site worker who is responsible for installing markers that were delivered to the grounds.

Photos provided by loved ones at the cemetery show dozens of markers worth thousands of dollars, uncovered and waiting to be placed.

One of those markers belonged to William “Bill” Bradshaw, Champion’s nephew, who lost his son in February.

“My son’s came in four to five weeks ago, instead of setting it, they waited four to five weeks and thankfully did it today,” Bradshaw said. “Why should we wait four to five weeks? You’re paying three or four grand for these markers. For them to sit out here on the ground and nobody mounts them is disappointing.”

His son’s marker was installed on Friday by cemetery staff.

“It’s been frustrating as a family to go through this, we want closure for these graves, and you have to wait months and months for it to happen. It’s not fair,” William “Bill” Bradshaw said.

“I just can’t settle down and say he’s safe. It’s very frustrating and it makes me very angry,” Essington said. “Other people have paid their money too. Is theirs the same as ours? Have their things been paid for, and they’re waiting around too?”

In 2019, another family claimed a similar issue where their prepaid headstones were not installed.

Plantation Memorial Gardens did not respond to repeated calls for comment from Live5News.

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