Families continue to raise complaints about Hensley cemetery

HENSLEY, Ark. – Issues with upkeep at a Hensley cemetery are still leaving the families of those interred there without peace.

Families say that maintenance at the Rest in Peace Cemetery has been neglected for some time. David Gober said he’s been complaining to the owners since burying his mother and still nothing has changed.

“I don’t understand how this is possible, I just want it to be clean out here,” Gober said.

The grass is knee-length and some tombstones have been broken. Gober said his mother has been buried in the cemetery since 2006, but the problem didn’t come until later. He said now he’s taking matters into his own hands.

“I put my weed eater in the truck,” he said. “I was so upset I left my shoes at home, so I was out here cleaning my mom’s plot in slides.”

Wanda Jones said each visit to her mother’s grave gets worse.

“My mother is gone, and we still have to for her resting place,” Jones said.

Jones said she buried her mother at Rest in Peace Cemetery in 2020 and weeks later her sister called crying and upset.

“They didn’t know exactly where to find my mother’s grave,” Jones said.

She said this left her father no choice but to keep her mother’s grave clean. The families said they’re hoping the issue can be resolved soon.

KARK 4 News reached out to the owners of the cemetery as well as the Burial Association Board but has not yet received a response.

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