Families upset about poor conditions of Delaware County cemetery

ASTON, Pa. (WPVI) -- For some time now, Jayne Beaver has scoured the grounds of Greenlawn Cemetery in Aston, looking for her husband's grave.

The Chester resident told me her family comes out here, but can't find him - even after looking all over the cemetery

Her late husband Charles Beaver, a former marine, died 34 years ago, which makes it all the more painful.

Mrs. Beaver is not alone. The cemetery off the 2500 block of Concord Rd. has fallen into such chaos and disarray, it looks like it came right out of a horror movie. Some tombstones were toppled over, while others were broken in half.

Many gravesites seemingly forgotten out in the woods and brush, with some sinking into the ground.

Devon Walls has a number of relatives buried here, some whose gravesites that, he too, has been unable to find.

Walls says "They promise you that beautiful land of paradise and then you come out here and you see this. I don't think our loved ones worked all of their lives and worked hard to be buried in a place like this."

I spoke with a man named Bradford Murray. He is not the owner of the cemetery and has not owned it in the past, but Murray says he has volunteered his time to try to help with the upkeep of the property for several years.

In recent years, others have launched clean-up efforts and fundraisers. Someone even developed a website to help people begin to track down their loved ones, but there are no records that anyone can find.

Walls says it doesn't seem that there's anybody you can get to take responsibility for the cemetery conditions.

The Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission has oversight over cemeteries, but we were unable to reach anyone there for comment.

Walls is asking families who have loved ones buried at the cemetery to get together to see if they can do anything to improve conditions there.