ELSMERE, Ky. — According to Jerry Ingguls, his two-year search for his father's grave marker has been stalled by interactions with obstructive, uncooperative officials at Mary E. Smith Memorial Cemetery. According to the cemetery's board of directors, the fault lies in the poor record-keeping of its former owners.
Ingguls spent more than a decade away from Elsmere, where his father was buried, while dealing with a move and health problems. He knows where the grave should be, but the spot is covered in frozen mud.
"I'd like to know where his grave is, and I'd really like to get out there and say whatever I can say to him and make amends because I haven't been to his grave in at least 15, but maybe 20 years," Ingguls said.
His phone calls with cemetery employees haven't helped.
"It's, 'I'll call you back in ten minutes, I'll call you right back just give me a minute,'" Ingguls said. "It makes me feel like they are disrespecting me."
Repeated attempts to reach the board of the cemetery eventually led to them releasing a statement that read, in part: "The record keeping and mismanagement of the former owners, the Smitherman family, has no reflection upon the maintenance and record keeping of the current board of the Mary E. Smith Memorial Cemetery."
The board also said it plans to contact Ingguls and remove the dirt to help him find his father's grave.
