Grave concerns over mismanagement of Cayman’s cemeteries

On a clear, bright January day, Ezmie Smith stooped on a sandy path amid the floral bouquets that decorate the rows of headstones at West Bay Cemetery.

This is where, she says, her great-great grandmother Mary Mollie Hydes, whose name appears on a road sign for the narrow beach-side road that runs behind the gas station at the four-way stop – was buried in a humble sand grave alongside her husband Emslie Hydes and his sister Floridell Hydes. 

There were three remaining spaces in this plot where her sisters Reba Dilbert and Aileen Dilbert, and her brother Virgil Dilbert expected to be buried when they passed on.

Instead there are now six new vaults, apparently put in place by another family, who also claim to have purchased the same plot.

In 2021, when the vaults were put in, Smith raised a complaint with the Department of Environmental Health.

The dispute over the little piece of ground has thrown light on much larger concerns around the management of Cayman’s cemeteries.

Smith is adamant that the burial plots at the far end of the cemetery belong to her family and has produced an official letter registering the ownership to prove it.

But her efforts to have the situation resolved have been frustrated by a lack of proper record-keeping of Cayman’s cemeteries and the absence of any formal dispute-resolution process or enforcement options. For Smith and many other generational Caymanians, it is not an insignificant matter.

“We have maintained that plot since 1957,” she said.

“We want to be buried with our ancestors.”

Declining space in oceanside cemeteries

The issue feeds into wider concerns about declining space in Cayman’s picturesque oceanside cemeteries. In West Bay, simple sand graves sit alongside ornate headstones, that run alongside a white picket fence, separating the cemetery from Seven Mile Beach.

In the days when there was no heavy equipment, the sandy beach-side land made the most ready burial plots, and it has become an important tradition for generations of the same families to be laid to rest in these pretty oceanside plots.

But an Ombudsman’s investigation, prompted by Smith’s complaint, paints a picture of administrative dysfunction behind the serene exterior. The matter is compounded by lack of space – meaning new spots are hard to come by and plots purchased in the past are treasured family places.

The Ombudsman found the concerns raised by Smith were not properly investigated or resolved by the Department of Environmental Health. The complaints watchdog noted systemic issues with the management of plots and recommended new legislation.

In a letter to Smith and her sister Reba Dilbert detailing its findings, the Ombudsman noted that various works have taken place at the West Bay Cemetery since 2021 without the approval of the DEH and that nothing has been done about it. Citing similar complaints raised by a review committee of “ongoing issues around cemetery management”, it indicates that the government was advised of the need for new legislation and policies as long ago as 2015.

“While there may be a brief policy stating that the DEH is responsible for managing public cemeteries, it is lacking in specifics, not backed by enabling legislation or regulations and in any case the DEH has no enforcement mechanism if the policy is violated,” the Ombudsman said in the letter.

Making a finding of ‘maladministration’, the letter, however, absolves the department of total blame, indicating, “It will require a comprehensive government effort to prevent and resolve these problems on an ongoing basis.”

The Cayman Compass reached out to the department for its response to the Ombudsman’s comments and to ask if anything had been done to rectify the situation, but received no response.

Improper record-keeping

The investigation also found improper record-keeping concerning the allocation of cemetery plots in Cayman. While this has improved since 1994, issues arise with the logging of plots purchased before that date.

In this case, Smith said her grandmother purchased the plot from the post office when her father-in-law Emslie Hydes died in 1957.

She also obtained affidavits from people who knew of the existence of the plots and from a justice of the peace to have them verified and registered with the DEH in 2016, when she became aware of other disputes around plots at the cemetery, including one body that had to be exhumed after being buried in the wrong plot.

Despite that evidence and corroborating emails, she was unable to get the complaint resolved to her satisfaction by the department.

The Ombudsman found that there was no formal system for dispute resolution that could have provided Smith and her family with a fair process to have their case resolved.

The complaints unit looks into structural government deficiencies – rather than the specifics of the personal complaint. While the finding may lead to a fairer process, it has yet to provide any resolution for Smith in her efforts to get her plot back.

“We are not letting this go,” she said. “We will go to court if we have to.”

West Bay West MP McKeeva Bush has raised wider concerns about the management of Cayman’s cemeteries.

In a private member’s motion filed in September, he cited the Ombudsman’s report and asked for government to enact legislation to regulate grave sites and develop proper policies and record-keeping practices for ancestral plots.

His motion also called for a system of “penalties for the desecration or wrongful acquisition” of grave plots.

Bush told the Compass that he is continuing to press for changes. He said beach-side family burial plots were important to his constituents.

“It is a traditional thing. West Bayers in particular still keep their ancestral plots. It is a mark of respect to our deceased relatives. People see it as a holy thing.”