Grave crime at cemetery

LYNN – Her four sons? names are inscribed on Julie Donaghy?s gravestone, and two of them stood with heavy hearts in St. Joseph Cemetery Tuesday wondering why someone stole the small, cylinder-shaped eternal candle from their mother?s gravesite.?I feel sorry for them,” said Thomas Donaghy.Donaghy?s parents, Eric and Eleanor Whyte, discovered the roughly foot-tall candle missing last Sunday when they visited their daughter?s grave located at the cemetery?s edge overlooking a pond.?They drove around looking for it. They were very upset,” said Sean Donaghy.The brothers vowed to replace the candle, but they wondered why a thief or thieves would violate a place sacred to their memory. The candle was not the only item stolen from Donaghy?s gravesite: A gold bracelet encircling the candle and bearing Donaghy?s first name was also stolen. “It?s pretty frustrating,” said Thomas Donaghy.Julie Donaghy died at the age of 49 in 2007 and her family maintains her grave with flowers, a planting basket and the eternal candle. Thomas and Sean Donaghy, and brothers Kirk and Eric and her parents and other loved ones visit her grave on holidays and at times when they want to be alone with her memory.?She was a super caring person and funny. She loved music and art,” Thomas Donaghy said.Donaghy was active in St. Pius V School sports and fundraising activities. She would have been 58 Tuesday.St. Joseph Cemetery rules posted online “disclaim all responsibility” for losses due to thieves and vandals. Cemetery laborer Joseph Bolduc said he and fellow laborers keep a close eye on the cemetery but cannot prevent every theft.?Occasionally, things disappear; it?s not often,” Bolduc said.He said families with relatives buried in St. Joseph bring thefts to the attention of laborers who work out of the cemetery garage on Lynn Street. Bolduc said illegal dumping in the cemetery is also a problem and said a contractor recently dumped waste material from a roofing job in the cemetery.The Donaghy brothers live in Lynn and said replacing the stolen candle is their way to honor the inscription on their mother?s grave that reads, “Forever in our hearts.”