Missing body causing problems between family and cemetery

December 3, 2025/Cemetery, Regulations/

According to details in this article from CBC Canada Royal Air Force glider pilot veteran Gordon Patrick was buried at the Green Acres Cemetery outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba, following his death in 1973. For whatever reason, probably at least partially because he was estranged from his daughter, Elizabeth Patrick, who lived in Great Britain, no monument or marker was ever erected.

It appears that all was fine until Gordon Patrick’s grandson, Patrick Moulden, a clearance diver with the Royal Canadian Navy died in 2022. Moulden was buried at the Field of Honor in Woodland Cemetery in Burlington, Ontario.

Then in May of this year Elizabeth Patrick had decided to have her father disintered and moved to the same cemetery where her son now lays in rest. According to the CBC Canada article, here’s what happened at that time”

“In May, wanting to have her father’s remains relocated to a cemetery in Ontario where her son is buried, Patrick — who lives in England — had the grave excavated. That’s when it was found to be empty.”

Since the elder Patrick’s burial in 1973 the cemetery ownership has passed through the Loewen Group, Alderwoods, and is now owned by Service Corporation International (SCI). Again, according to the article, Elizabeth Patrick states that “she initially had a positive and reciprocal relationship with Service Corporation International leading up to the excavation, and the company even agreed to waive its estimated $9,000 cost. But she says communication with SCI, which owns Green Acres, has slowed since early June, after the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) forensics unit carried out the first of two ground-penetrating radar searches in an effort to find any trace of her father.”

The article states that Ms. Patrick is now hearing from SCI’s legal counsel. The article mentions that SCI’s e-mailed stance is “to say the company isn’t liable for the missing body, because he was buried before it took ownership of the cemetery. . . . . Given “the changes in ownership and organizational history of the prior owners,” the company believes “that Green Acres holds no liability.”

Troy Harwood-Jones, a lawyer with PKF Lawyers is quoted in the article saying that “. . .the Manitoba Cemeteries Act could also make SCI liable. . . . The cemetery company will not be able to show that it’s met the requirements of the act by failing to keep proper records.”

Related — Here is a CBC News broadcast of the situation

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take: This will be one case that is interesting to follow. I don’t make the laws and holding SCI liable for something that happened at the cemetery 30 years prior to their ownership is pretty onerous, in my opinion. On the other hand, if they agreed to buy the cemetery and take on all “rights and responsibilities” of previous ownership, this looks like a responsibility of previous ownership.

How could this situation happen? Where are the remains of the elder Mr. Patrick? One possible situation and my best guess is that it is a case of “transposed or incorrect numbers” placed on the decedent’s records at the cemetery. Back in 1973 — before computers — many of the deceased in cemeteries had their records kept on index file cards with the information. It could be something as simple as marking “Section 415” down as “Section 514” on an index card. But I’m guessing that if they have had the Royal Mounted Police looking into this, those simple solutions have been looked at.

My guess is that Mr. Gordon Patrick is buried within the confines of the Green Acres Cemetery, it’s just that nobody knows where.

This case will be interesting to follow and we hope to keep our readers up to date on what happens.

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