Family sues San Diego cemetery after learning they lost their father’s remains

A family is suing a San Diego cemetery for the loss of their father’s remains – which they only discovered when they buried their mother in the same spot 20 years later.

Sidney Cooper was 71 when he died in 2001 and is believed to be buried in the family plot at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary in San Diego.

But two decades later, when the family made arrangements to bury their mother Thelma, 92, who died in March 2023, next to their father, they were shocked to discover that his body and coffin were not part of the plot.

Cemetery officials, who informed the family of the error, said they did not know where Cooper’s remains were. Their daughter, Lana Cooper-Jones, told the San Diego Union Tribune.

Cooper was buried in Greenwood in 2001. The family said there was a funeral service, but they did not watch the coffin being lowered. Twenty years later, his tomb was discovered to be empty

In 2023, as the cemetery was preparing to bury Cooper’s wife Thelma, who died in March 2023, they found Cooper’s body and coffin missing. An underground probe detected the presence of a chest in another lot that should be empty

The lawsuit, filed Friday, seeks to force the cemetery to find the patriarch’s remains and pay damages to the children.

“I was absolutely distraught,” Cooper-Jones said Friday after learning her father’s body was missing. “It was like losing my father again, as well as my mother.”

Cooper-Jones said yes held a funeral service when her father died twenty years ago, but they did not witness his coffin being lowered into the ground.

According to family lawyers Eric Dubin and Annee Della Donna, cemetery officials have said they may have an idea of ​​where his coffin is buried.

An underground probe discovered the presence of a chest in another lot that should be empty, the lawyers said.

The family have said they want the body exhumed and DNA tested.

Sidney Cooper was 71 when he died in 2001 and is believed to be buried in the family plot at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary in San Diego. Or so the family thought

But two decades later, when the family made arrangements to bury their mother Thelma, 92, who died in March, next to their father, they were shocked to find his grave empty.

Cooper-Jones said her mother Thelma “only chose to be buried because my father wanted to be buried – otherwise she would have been cremated”

“My mother only chose to be buried because my father wanted to be buried — otherwise she would have been cremated,” said Cooper-Jones. “And now she’s buried there alone. It’s heartbreaking.’

The couple purchased their Greenwood property circa 1992, about two blocks from the family’s Mountain View home, the family attorneys said.

Greenwood Cemetery said it is working to resolve the issue and said ownership and management have changed since the error.

“While the placement of this family’s loved one took place over 20 years ago under previous ownership and management, we have recently discovered a placement issue and are working hard to confirm the placement of the loved one,” the cemetery said. in a statement.

“Our hope is to reunite the loved ones as intended as soon as possible.”

Cooper-Jones said it has been a difficult time for her and her siblings following their mother’s passing. And now, after losing their father, again.

“We do this every year to honor our father,” she said. “Now we don’t even know where he is.”

“For more than 20 years, the widow and family have visited, prayed, wept and honored their father at the 319 lot and headstone, believing the defendant had buried him there,” the lawsuit read. “Plaintiff had prayed to an empty lot for over 20 years.”

“I was absolutely distraught,” Cooper-Jones said Friday after learning her father’s body was missing. ‘It was like losing my father and my mother again’

The couple purchased their Greenwood property circa 1992, about two blocks from the family’s Mountain View home, the family’s attorneys said.

For decades before his death, Cooper promoted Juneteenth in his unofficial and affectionate role as “Mayor of Imperial Avenue.” The lawsuit was meant to coincide with the Cooper Family Foundation Juneteenth Freedom Festival on Saturday at Memorial Park in San Diego

The lawsuit was intended to coincide with the Cooper Family Foundation Juneteenth Freedom Festival on Saturday at Memorial Park in San Diego.

For decades before his death, Cooper promoted Juneteenth in his unofficial and affectionate role as the “mayor of Imperial Avenue,” near where he owned businesses, including a barber shop and a grocery store.

The family’s Juneteenth celebrations grew from small events in the parking lot of Cooper’s store to larger gatherings in a city park.

After Cooper’s death, the family established the Cooper Family Foundation to carry on his legacy and celebrate each year with the Juneteenth Freedom Festival.

The June 19 holiday marks the day in 1865 when word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached the last slaveholding of Galveston, Texas, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the order to free enslaved black people. President Biden declared it a federal holiday in 2021.