![]() Some of the big ones weigh a ton and if they shift, a person could be seriously injured. These monuments weigh well over 1000 pounds. When Divine’s mother, Frances Milstead, was buried close to Divine in 2009, a couple of mourners “decided to sprawl across the top of Divine’s gravestone to have their photo taken,” she recalled. The cemetery management also has a liability issue to consider, she said. “How disgusting is that for them to be standing at a burial and you’re looking at graffiti?” ![]() “Think of when another family nearby has a burial,” she said. She likened the writing to graffiti on a building and said the cemetery has received comments about it. Knott said Divine’s gravestone is the only one at the cemetery that has ever been marked. And for all the other families, it can be offensive.” That’s defacing property, and there was a lot of stuff written on that grave. “That’s illegal in the state of Maryland. ![]() It becomes a problem when people write on a gravestone, she said. Some of the gifts can be very expensive, she said, including a pair of fire engine red, spiked-heel Jimmy Choo shoes that someone left for Divine. Visitors don’t always know what to make of the writing and offerings they see at Divine’s grave, said Carolyn Parker Knott, President of Prospect Hill Cemetery of Towson Inc., the not-for-profit organization that owns and operates the burial grounds. “It’s always been love and support for Divine and his career.” “It’s homage, it’s celebratory,” he said. “This guy was totally scamming people on eBay, digging dirt out of his own backyard.”īy all accounts, Brodie said, the tributes left to Divine have all been well-meaning. “Divine’s grave was in fine condition,” he said. He said the closest he’s heard about anyone disturbing anything at the cemetery is a report that someone was selling “dirt from Divine’s grave” on eBay, but that turned out to be a hoax. Some time ago, he said, “somebody wrote ‘Satan.’ And my friend Pat Moran said, they really meant ‘satin.’ They spelled it wrong.”īrodie said no one has damaged the gravestone, to his knowledge. But someone might not know that who doesn’t know the movie.” “Even when they write, ‘The Filthiest Person Alive’, and that kind of stuff, it’s all meant in the right way. “There’s never anything written that’s actually hateful or awful,” he said. But to people who were visiting another grave and weren’t familiar with his movies, he said, they could be taken the wrong way. Waters said the words that people wrote in the past have tended to be lines from his movies, and fans of Divine recognize that. I’ve seen lots of little offerings…It’s very respectful.” “Every time I go I see different little things that are left,” he said. Waters admits that he brings gifts to leave at Divine’s grave when he visits, and he looks to see what others bring. “The Divine estate approved and I did too.” “A fan paid to have the grave cleaned, which we thought was lovely,” Waters said. The changes came after an admirer of Divine’s offered money to restore the gravestone. Others look at it as celebrating Divine’s career. “I know some people look at the writing on the headstone as defacing or desecrating the land there. ![]() “I get it because I understand that people want to come and pay their respects,” he said. Some people think it’s absolutely not OK.”īrodie said he’s on the fence about how people behave at Divine’s grave. I think it’s a real polarizing kind of thing. “I compare it to something along the lines of Jim Morrison’s grave, where people do come and leave things and they do mark the headstone. “People have mixed views of how graves should be treated, especially when you’re talking about someone as iconic as Divine,” said Noah Brodie, the California-based CEO of Divine Official Enterprises LLC., an organization created with Divine’s family to administer his estate and help keep his memory alive. The Charm City Birdwatcher by Karuga Koinange.Business & Real Estate Open dropdown menu.
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