Family Plaques Missing from Brookline Cemetery; Theft Suspected

Brookline parks officials are looking to step up security at the town-owned Walnut Hills Cemetery after the disappearance of two bronze plaques last month.

Erin Gallentine, Brookline's director of parks and open space, confirmed that two bronze plaques bearing the name of families buried at the cemetery were reported missing on Sept. 21. It's not clear what happened to the plaques, but Gallentine said she suspects they were stolen.

"We noted that one was missing—we're not sure whether that had come off, we weren't sure what had happened—and then another that we had seen in the recent past was missing, so we felt it was important that we alert police," she said. "We're concerned that they've been stolen."

Gallentine said the first plaque measured two feet by eight inches and bore the name of the Blakeslee-Platt family, which made its first burial in the cemetery in 1899. The second plaque measured 18 inches by seven inches and bore the name of the Miller family, which made its first burial in the 1940s.

It's not clear when the two plaques were erected, but Gallentine said the larger plaque is probably worth around $1,200, while the smaller one was is worth closer to $1,075. She said the plaques are not insured.

Gallentine said her department has not yet reached the families associated with the plots, in part because the cemetery only started to keep contact information for the families buried there in the last few years.

"We'll have to see what if anything we get from the police, and then also if there's anybody in our database for us to communicate with our families," she said.

The Parks Division is currently looking to hire a new caretaker following the death of the former tenant, Tom Curtin, last year. She said she hopes the new caretaker, who would be allowed to live in a house on the property for a modest rent but would not collect a salary, will help to improve security for the cemetery.

"Part of their responsibility is added vigilance in the cemetery—noting whether there's any unusual act, doing patrols, keeping a log of any unusual conditions or times they did a drive through," she said. "We like having that constant presence at the cemetery, and we think it's incredible important, in just a preventative sense, in deterring vandalism or theft or anything along those lines."