MOORESVILLE — A family had to rebury their relative on Tuesday, months after he passed away, due to a record-keeping error.
"For five months we haven't known when we are going to rebury our father or what we are going to do," Connie Lane, Cecil's daughter, said.
For the second time in just six months, a family had to say goodbye to Cecil Lundy after buying two burial plots at Mooresville Cemetery.
"He was buried on the 17th. On the 19th the town Council found out that they had sold the same plot to another family," Cecil Scott Lundy, Cecil's son, said.
The town council president says there was a record keeping error by the former caretaker of the cemetery. On Tuesday, the family gathered as Cecil's casket was dug up and re-buried.
"He's not a piece of property he's our dad," Lane said. "We know he's in heaven but this is his body."
Lundy says this was a disheartening situation for the family.
"There were no records. It took them six weeks to come up with a record, which again, we still have not seen proof of."
The town council president says a receipt was written for the sale of the original plot, but it was never marked down on the cemetery's record keeping map. That is what led to it being sold a second time.
"The town Council said they found boxes of receipts. They assured us that this is not the only mistake they have found. That's kind of scary you know," Lane said.
The town council confirms additional receipts were found that correspond to plots that are not currently marked on the cemetery map. They are working now to match records to all sold plots, so this doesn't happen to another family.
"You should never have to rebury your father twice," Lane said. "A family should not go through that."
Cecil's family says the only bright side is their mother was able to be there for the second burial. She broke her hip after her husband passed away and was not able to attend the original service.
"The one aspect out of this tragedy is that today she got closure," Lane said. "But it's closure in an open field versus closure and a beautiful setting that we had picked out as a family together."
The town council president told RTV6 that this was the first time a mistake like this has been made at Mooresville Cemetery. Right now they are taking "an all hands on deck" approach to make sure it doesn't happen again.
