This past Monday I went to Fairview Cemetery on Rt. 35 to visit my grandmother and aunts graves as I have done countless times before. That particular day I had some difficulty locating them, so thought it would be a good idea to stop back at the office for a map. I used the map to help me locate many other people that I know are buried there also.
While there I remembered that a fellow classmate from River Plaza named David Barrett was buried here. Tragically when we were around 11, he went to Texas in the summer to visit family and never returned home as he was killed in a tragic accident. The office looked up his name and verified that he was indeed buried there and showed me the area to find him. I returned to the office 20 minutes later and asked if he had a headstone because I had no luck finding him. She looked it up again and said, no, he has no headstone. I asked why. She said it was the parents’ responsibility to have a headstone installed and she guessed they never did it. I asked if he was buried with family at the site. She said no, he was buried by himself. She drew me a detailed map by hand and I ventured back out and sure enough I found him!
I was heartbroken to stand there looking at the ground thinking that an 11 year old boy and a fellow classmate of River Plaza school has been lying here for 39 years in an unmarked grave with no acknowledgement that he even existed. I decided right then and there that I was going to make it my mission to have a headstone placed at this poor boy’s grave.
People always say “gone but not forgotten” but in David’s case, and by the looks of his resting place, I would say he was forgotten. Well not anymore, I plan to change that. I’m asking my fellow River Plaza classmates, friends and friends of friends, if I started a collection, would any of you be interested in donating? I will be looking into the cost of headstones and how much we would need to raise. I have already received permission to place a stone at his grave site and would like to plan on having a memorial after the stone is placed so that David can be acknowledged and memorialized properly so he knows that even though he was only here a short time, he was not forgotten.
Contact me on Facebook (facebook.com/asa.sweeney.1) or at landman789@aol.com Thanks for reading everyone! Let’s make this happen for David.
Asa Sweeney
Toms River, NJ
