A stranger helped John Koppel lug the concrete angel from his son's grave site at Lakeside Memorial Lawn in Folsom to the family sport-utility vehicle.
The heavy statue had to be hauled away Monday because it violates newly enforced regulations at the 160-year-old cemetery.
John Joseph Koppel, who shared his father's name, was a teacher at Folsom Middle School when he died two years ago of cancer. By all accounts, the 37-year-old was a popular and inspiring educator. His students still visit his grave.
His parents, John and Carolyn Koppel, visit their only child's grave every day.
Until Monday, the angel sat next to their son's ground-level headstone. But Lakeside's regulations say graves can be marked only with a headstone and fresh flowers in a permanent vase.
"The rules have been posted on the front gate for umpteen years," said Lorin Claney, who owns the cemetery and Miller Funeral Home in Folsom.
The rules were mostly ignored for decades, however, and graves were bedecked with all manner of memorabilia.
It became a maintenance issue, Claney said, and a notice was posted in September that the rules would be enforced as of Dec. 1.
Not everybody complied, as shown by an array of items piled next to a storage shed at the cemetery, including various statues and crosses, candy canes, a teddy bear, a Raggedy Ann doll, a small decorated Christmas tree and a Tony Stewart No. 20 NASCAR flag.
Lakeside is a far cry from the modern, meticulous and often massive genre of cemeteries. Nobody finds the site by accident. It's tucked away west of Folsom Boulevard, near Natoma Street.
"If this was Mount Vernon, I could understand the uniformity," Koppel said. "But this is not that kind of cemetery."
Its 6 acres of developed grave sites meander among palm, cypress and other evergreen trees, and the rows of headstones – when they are in rows – are less than precisely aligned.
Grave markers range from shiny and new to a rough granite-looking pillar that stands close to 10 feet tall. The date on that one was too worn to read, but others date back to 1862, 1876, 1877, 1885 and so on.
"We have one marker from 1850," Claney said.
The Koppel grave at one time was decorated with the angel and two small rosemary trees, along with mementos left by other visitors.
"One of John's students comes every month and leaves flowers or something," his 63-year-old father said. "He helped her with some problems at school, and she had so much respect for him."
The problem with the Koppels' angel was that it was not attached to the headstone, Claney said.
When their son was buried, upright headstones were not allowed in that part of the cemetery. The rule has since been changed because some families erected upright monuments anyway, Claney said, but the Koppels don't want to replace the headstone at their son's grave.
John Koppel said he understands that Claney has a business to run but contends that he had permission to add the statue. He also said other Lakeside families also are upset and plan to meet with Claney today.
The cemetery has been in Claney's family since 1963.
The site originally consisted of six private cemeteries, most of which were owned by Folsom lodges, such as American Legion and Odd Fellows. In 1955, the private graveyards were combined into Lakeside, where approximately 6,000 people have been interred.
But even an old and picturesque cemetery must be maintained, Claney said. The grass must be mowed and the weeds must be whacked.
"With all that stuff scattered around, you would have to get off the mower just about every time you come to a grave," he said. "And if I hit something with the mower or a weed whip, families would get upset."
He said other cemeteries – "every other one that I have been to" – allow nothing beyond a marker and an in-ground vase at each grave.
"Everybody is different and everybody has something … that is significant to them," he said. "In recent years, it just got out of control."
Call The Bee's Bob Walter, (916) 773-7388.
