Beloved cemetery angel statue vandalized

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This article was published 12/05/2021 (1594 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Efforts are underway to clean a much-loved angel statue in the Brandon Municipal Cemetery after it was vandalized sometime before Mother’s Day.

The angel statue, affectionately named “Rosie,” stands approximately five feet tall near the middle of the cemetery, in an area with mostly low-lying tombstones.

The statue is named after the person it was erected in memory of.

Photos posted to the People of Brandon Facebook group on May 8 show red writing scrawled on both the angel’s wings and on one of its feet.

The vandalism struck a chord with Jo-Ann Pasklivich, who said she was upset and knew she had to do something when she saw it.

“I had gone to the cemetery on Mother’s Day to visit my mother … and I could see the vandalism from the road,” she said.

“I just thought ‘this is wrong on a day like (Mother’s Day).’”

Pasklivich said she tried using hand sanitizer and other cleaning solutions to remove the writing, but then went to Canadian Tire to get spray paint the same colour as the stone to cover the vandalism.

“I don’t know if Rosie was a mom or not, but I just know it was wrong to be there on Mother’s Day,” she said.

“I just thought lots of people were going by and looking at (Rosie) and looking at what had happened and I just thought she shouldn’t be looked at for that reason,” Pasklivich said.

The red writing was covered with paint when the Sun visited on Tuesday afternoon. Pasklivich said the writing didn’t mean anything to the average person, but likely did to the person who wrote on the statue.

The statue stands as a “pillar of strength” for many people who visit the cemetery, Pasklivich said, and is very prominent among the other tombstones.

“The person who chose it and placed it there had a great deal of love and respect for her to put the angel statue there,” she said.

“I’ve lived in Brandon all my life, and it was always a drawing point because of the section she’s in and how you see her.”

Memories Chapel is working on a project to clean and restore the statue after the vandalism, said funeral director Greg Hildebrand.

The statue itself is unique because of its size and location in the cemetery, he said.

“There are some other stones that have angels on them, but I think just the way that one is situated it just grabs the heart,” he said.

When reached on Tuesday, Hildebrand said he’s working on contacting the deceased’s next of kin before doing any work on the statue.

There are special cleaners that can be used, or the vandalism could be sand-blasted off.

“I think it’s nice to see that the community cares. When people see defenceless headstones defaced, it really strikes at the heart because that is how we honour our future, our past generation … and when that is damaged and taken away from us, I think many people take that personally,” he said.

While vandalizing a tombstone is a crime, the Brandon Police Service hasn’t received an official complaint about the incident and is not investigating, said public information officer Sgt. Kirby Sararas.

Other tombstones in the cemetery have been vandalized before, said City of Brandon director of parks and recreation services Perry Roque, but not for some time.

Roque said he was unsure of the motive for the most recent incident.

“The cemetery is a park-like setting and we do have a lot of people using the cemetery for walking and peaceful reflection and things, so there’s usually lots of people around there, which is probably why we haven’t had anything happening in a long time.”

Roque confirmed the city is planning to clean the statue, but didn’t have a timeline on Tuesday.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_