ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — Every time Hazel Thompson and her family members pay their respects at her late husband’s gravesite, they hope his headstone is in place.
They’ve been disappointed after each visit for almost a year.
Thompson, 77, of St. Petersburg, is still getting used to life without Fred Lee Thompson, who died last January at the age of 85.
“Companionship,” she said when asked what she missed most about her husband of 44 years. “And somebody being there.”
They were married for more than half her life.
“Very, very hard. I’m still in mourning because it was one year on Friday,” Thompson said. “I tell him that we’re here and hopefully soon we’ll have the gravestone so we can find him easier.”
Thompson provided the cancelled check she said she wrote to Royal Palms Cemetery for $1,130 to pay for the headstone.
It was cashed last January.
Thompson said she called the cemetery about the problem “about 50 times” but received what she called “the runaround.”
“‘Let me call you back’ or, ‘They’re getting it.’ It’s just going to take some time or call me back at 12 or call me back at 4,” Thompson recalled.
Cemetery staff member Yvonne Rawbon said many facilities across the country are experiencing delays for headstones.
“I understand the frustration,” Rawbon said. “Production of markers has slowed down. It usually does not take this long.”
Rawbon said the order for the stone was placed October 23 “when the proof was signed” by Thompson. The headstone was installed in February.
Funeral directors contacted by 8 On Your Side acknowledged delays in headstone production, but none of them recalled that process taking 12 months to complete.
Rawbon said shipping issues lingering from Covid-19 could be to blame because some headstone material originates from China.
She also claims no one signed off on the wording on Thompson’s headstone until last October.
“We cannot start production until that is signed,” Rawbon said.
At that point, Thompson interrupted, fiercely denying the document was not signed until October.
“That’s just not true,” Thompson said. “I signed it when I wrote the check. Why would I wait to sign it?”
Rawbon said the Thompson headstone has been ordered but she did not have a timeframe for when it would be in place.
Thompson said she will believe that when she sees the stone marking her late husband’s grave. Until then?
“I feel angry, frustration. They’ve had my money for one year and did nothing,” Thompson said. “I could’ve had my money in the bank drawing interest for one year and paid for the stone when it came.”
