MILTON, Mass. — A local woman says Milton Cemetery won’t let her put her late brother's name on the family headstone unless he’s physically buried there.
Chris Cox of Milton died in February at 67 from COPD. On his deathbed, he told his sister his last request was to be cremated. He wanted to have his ashes scattered, and his name next to those of his parents and other brother already buried in the family plot. The family has owned the plot at Milton Cemetery since 1979.
"He told me everything he wanted me to do and I’m going to carry out his wishes if it’s the last thing I do,” said Angela McHugh.
Angela McHugh, his sister, said Milton Cemetery will not allow her brother’s name on the headstone because he's not physically buried there. The plot has five empty spaces, one of them is Chris's, so McHugh says it’s not an issue of space, they’re just being difficult. She said they are requiring her to put all or a portion of Chris’s body in the ground.
"They also told me I could dig up my mother, my father, or my brother and put my brother Chris’s remains in with them. And I said why would I do that, he has his own space if he wants it. That wasn't what he wanted,” said McHugh.
She said despite months of trying and a stack of paperwork to show her efforts, the cemetery hasn’t budged.
She said she won’t stop until she fulfills her brothers wish.
"I said I’ll pay the fee to open the plot and ill bury and empty box. And they said you can’t do that, that’s disingenuous, and I said well I’m honoring my brother’s wishes, he did not want to be buried,” she told FOX25.
Milton cemetery did not return FOX25’s requests for comment, but the New England Historic Genealogical Society says this woman's request is not unusual, headstones have been inscribed in memory of people not there for centuries in Massachusetts. They said most communities have cemeteries that allow it.