GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Donna Blandford-Durant died in March of 2023. She's buried at Blythefield Memory Gardens in Belding.
Her daughter, Marcy Price, said she hoped for a proper burial and memorial for her mother.
"I just want my mom to be put at rest, the family to put at rest, everybody at ease," said Price.
She is buried in a family plot. Her grave is the only one not properly identified.
"I just want the nameplate," said Price. "I'm not asking for the world, just a nameplate, something we can look at."
Marcy said her mother pre-paid for the plot, headstone and nameplate before she died. But 17 months later, the work is not complete.
"They keep telling me they had to get a new template made for the nameplate because it was an old-style nameplate," said Price. "But, I mean, a year and a half later, how long does it take to make a template? You know, the headstone is there, it's just the nameplate."
The 13 ON YOUR SIDE Help Team reached out to Alexis Clemens, the Family Services Manager of Blythefield Memory Gardens.
Clemens agreed to an interview but did not want her face on camera. She did agree to allow us to record her voice.
She said the missing nameplate is more of a supplier issue that has a much wider impact.
"The issues that we've had with this specific one, and this is an industry-wide issue that we're experiencing with designs being incorrect, shipping delays, manufacturing delays, the time frame of things getting delivered," said Clemens.
Clemens said she's ordered three different nameplates for Marcy's mother's grave and all of them have come back incorrect.
She also says the gravestone was ordered from a different cemetery in Rockford, before the plot was moved to Blythefield. Because of that, she has had to work with a manufacturer they normally don't use, adding to the delays.
"It's a style of a marker, that memorial that they do not manufacture quite often anymore," said Clemens. "And with that being said, there's about, I would say, 1,000 different options for the specific plate that we're looking for for Donna."
Clemens said she empathizes with the family and hopes to have the nameplate at the cemetery by mid-September.
"We're all human," said Clemens. "We're doing our best out here when you're dealing with other people in other companies that you have no control over."
The Help Team will follow up with Price and Clemens later this month to see if the nameplate is finally delivered.