Back in December 2025, Funeral Director Daily, in this article, informed you of the case of the empty grave of CBC Canada Royal Glider Pilot Gordon Patrick.  If you read the article you will recall, Sgt. Patrick died in 1973 and was buried in Green Acres Cemetery outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  And, according to articles that I have read, no monument was ever erected.

In May of 2025, the family of Sgt. Patrick sought to have his body exhumed so that it could be buried near his grandson in a cemetery in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.  At that time, the grave was excavated and found empty.  To this date, at least from what we know, the graveside of Sgt. Patrick has not yet been located.

Green Acres Cemetery near Winnipeg has passed through ownership changes since the burial of Sg. Gordon Patrick in 1973 and is now operated by Service Corporation International (SCI).  It was not owned by SCI at the time of Sgt. Patrick’s burial dates.

We now have learned through this recent article from CP24 News of Canada, and other sources, that a legal case may be materializing with action pursued against SCI.  The linked article is titled “Her father’s remains are missing from a Winnipeg cemetery.  Now she’s escalating legal action”.

The article goes on to point out that the daughter of Sgt. Patrick, who lives in the United Kingdom, has retained counsel and is “. . now working with a Winnipeg lawyer on a lawsuit seeking an undisclosed amount in damages, and said if a resolution isn’t reached, the case will head to court.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I said this back in December 2025 and I still believe it today.  Sgt. Gordon Patrick is probably buried in the Green Acres Cemetery in Winnipeg as the family wished.  However, in 1973 many cemeteries still used “index cards” to record the dates, locations, family data, and other information of the decedent burial.

I’m very much of the opinion that Sgt. Patrick has been buried in Green Acres Cemetery, but the data relating to that burial was recorded incorrectly.  If that is the case, and it is a large cemetery, it would seem almost impossible to locate where he is actually buried within the confines of the cemetery.

This situation is also a cautionary tale for anybody who thinks about purchasing an existing funeral home, cemetery, or other business.  You take a certain amount of risk concerning “actions of the past” when you do so.  Actions that took place under the previous ownership may come back to involve you.  . . . . and even if you are exonerated from an inappropriate action, you will still probably have legal expenses getting to that point of exoneration.

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