Church Sues Parents Over Son’s Cemetery Monument

A Monroe couple mourning the death of their 25-year-old son is now being sued by the church that owns the cemetery he is buried in.

The Times Herald Record reports that Boris and Praskovya Vays buried their son, Aaron, in Seamanville Cemetery in Monroe in 2014. The cemetery board approved their proposed monument in May 2015, according to court papers and documents from the Vays.

In late October 2015, when the Vays held the unveiling ceremony, the board sent them a notice saying the monument did not meet cemetery regulations. The Vays, who are from Ukraine, have religious and cultural beliefs for monuments that commemorate the dead to be large, beautiful and decorated with flowers. According to the Record, the First Presbyterian Church's lawsuit says the monument fails to meet the cemetery's regulations and aesthetics.

The article states the Vays bought three plots in the Seamanville Cemetery, one for Aaron and one for each parent. The Vays say they scaled back the original design at the request of the board and were given approval for 48-inch headstones for the father, mother, and son, Aaron.

A broken heart on each side connects the parents' plots to Aaron's. The headstones are green and pink marble, with bas-relief busts of each respective Vays. They built brick borders, planted flowers and filled in the area with gravel to show the parents' plots on either side.