The death of Army Sergeant Kimberly Walker was heavily grieved by her family. She survived two tours of duty in Iraq before her horrific murder for which her boyfriend is being charged.
At her gravesite, her family has spent $26,000 for two headstones to be placed in the cemetery, one for her and another for her sister to use in the future. However, less than a day after the two statues were put up as grave markers, it was determined they would have to be removed.
These statues had been pre approved by a cemetery representative. So why were they taken down? Because they were two 7 foot-figures of SpongeBob, according to Huffington Post.
Despite the cemetery committees offer to compensate the family for the money they spent, their efforts do not make up for their ‘accidental’ approval of these statues in the first place. The investment they had made for these grave markers was not just financial but emotional as well.
The family had picked this headstone in order to honor their deceased child, and chose SpongeBob as its theme because it held important meaning to Walker. And according to her family, she did not just like SpongeBob; she loved him, and held SpongeBob birthday parties annually. The funeral home even bought a SpongeBob pillow which the family asked to be placed in the casket.
The designs for the SpongeBob marker were to incorporate an army uniform and have military patches on the arms. The SpongeBob for Walker’s sister instead wears a navy uniform according to CNN.
But according to the cemetery President Grey Freytag, these headstones are not appropriate to the historic cemetery and would not be allowed to be displayed there.
For the committee to change their mind after the statues had already been planned, created and established, because they did not fit the theme of the cemetery, is more of a dishonor and pain than two SpongeBob grave markers could be.
The family and committee already have planned a meeting to discuss different options to honor their daughter in the cemetery. But it is unlikely that after this meeting the new solution will honor the Walker’s daughter to the extent they had originally hoped and planned for. The family had taken a lot of time in considering what they wanted to place in honor of their daughter. It had seemed fitting if the headstone was in resemblance of her favorite cartoon character, since her bedroom and bathroom are entirely SpongeBob themed.
Cemeteries are a place where deceased loved ones are honored and remembered. So while SpongeBob headstones may seem silly in a historic setting, they were chosen by Walker’s family with love. In the end, the cemetery had every right to remove the headstones. But in reality, the right thing would have been to let the statues stay.