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In the past couple of weeks, the phones at A.A. Rayner & Sons Modern Funeral Service have been ringing off the hook. Since word that some 300 bodies at Alsip, Illinois’s historic Burr Oak Cemetery were exhumed so the plots could be re-sold, funeral directors like Charles S. Childs Jr. have been the target of ridicule from families demanding answers to what exactly has happened to the loved ones they buried there.
“Our concern is for the families that need to be buried right now,” Childs said after a recent meeting with Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and other community leaders on how to sort through the fiasco. “There are families that want to be buried at Burr Oak because they own grave space, but we can’t access the cemetery. What are we supposed to do and what are we supposed to tell these families?”
According to attorney Willie Gary, who is representing the families from Burr Oak, the total in damages sought has far exceeded $1 billion. Gary and his legal team — who were present for Rev. Jackson’s sit down with funeral directors to address the issue of culpability — made sure to divert the focus back to former cemetery operators.
Gary spoke directly to Perpetua Holdings of Illinois Inc., which owned Burr Oak since 2001. “I don’t how important it is to Perpetua, but for a lot of the family members [burial] meant everything to them,” Gary said. “To have to suffer through a tragic situation like this, it’s unexplainable. And for the focus to be put on the funeral directors is just flat out ridiculous.”
Both Gary and Childs insist that all local funeral homes are working to provide Burr Oaks families with answers and services as soon as things start to settle down. In the meantime, Rev. Jackson says he believes that more information should be forthcoming from Burr Oak, including details about the four cemetery employees accused of unearthing and dismembering corpses.
“The issue at the end of the day is that funeral directors provided their services, people have trusted them,” Rev. Jackson said. “Those owners either knew or should have known what was happening on that property.” –gavin philip godfrey
