Grieving Parents Place Halloween Decorations On Son’s Grave To Honor His 'Cowboy Spirit' - Cemetary Commission Removes Them

Nov 14, 2019 by apost team

The thought of losing a child is the worst thing imaginable for any parent, but it became a grim reality for Christina and Rob Wohle. Christina and Rob lost their son Cole in 2016 shortly after his 18th birthday.

Cole died suddenly when he suffered a heart attack following a rodeo. A lover of the rodeo and a dedicated cowboy, Christina and Rob decorated their son’s tombstone with a man riding a horse, ensuring that all the world would know of his passion.

As the years went by, Christina and Rob did everything to keep Cole’s memory alive. One of the most important traditions they started was going to the New Hampshire cemetery where their son rested and decorating it for each holiday. One day, when Christina was walking through her neighborhood, she saw a Halloween decoration that closely matched Cole’s wicked sense of humor.

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One of her neighbors had gotten a plastic skeleton and placed it on the ground in a way that made the skeleton look like it was rising out of the dirt. Christina and Rob went to the store and bought their own plastic skeleton, placing it on Cole’s grave with a cowboy on its skull. The two parents loved the decoration so much that they even posted a photo of it to Facebook, attaching the caption “Cole popped up to say Happy Halloween to y’all,” much to the delight of their family and friends. Despite the good joke, Christina and Rob soon found that not everyone thought the display was funny.

When Christina went to visit Cole’s grave one day, she found that someone had removed the cowboy skeleton. Thinking that it was done by mistake, Christina put a new one up, only to have it taken down as well. When Christina inquired as to why the cowboy skeleton was taken down, she learned that it was done on orders of the Francestown Cemetery Commission. Commission members say that the skeleton was removed because it was inappropriate, but Rob says that it wasn’t done to insult anyone.

Speaking with reporters from CBS News, Rob says that the skeleton was intended to provide a brief light of their son’s humor in an otherwise sad place. Rob also told reporters that he and Christina spoke with families that have neighboring plots and learned that none of them had an issue with the cowboy skeleton.

 While Christina and Rob will not be putting the skeleton back, they say that they just wish that cemetery officials had contacted them before removing it.

What do you think of Christina and Rob’s story? Do you think that the cemetery is overreacting or do they have a point? Let us know in the comments - and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!