by Tom Chillemi –
Something was not right.
Seven-year old Kyler Congleton was in the playground at Harmony Grove Baptist Church near Topping when he noticed some graves in the cemetery did not have flowers and others did.
A few were decorated, but so many had nothing. He asked his Nanny why. “Well, they died a long time ago and they don’t have any family left, because they have all gone to heaven,” Nanny replied. “There’s no one around to take care of them.”
That touched Kyler’s heart.
Kyler again mentioned the stark graves to Nanny during other visits to the playground, most recently, a few weeks before Christmas.
Together they made a plan to get some holiday flowers to remember those departed souls with no one to remember them.
“Do you think they are in heaven watching me do this?”
—Kyler Congleton
They bought some artificial poinsettias, Nanny brought him an elf hat, and off they went to the cemetery to remember the forgotten ones. Not only would Kyler place a poinsettia sprig on graves, he wanted to “fix things up.” He would carefully upright flowers that had toppled over or flags that had blown down, and he also cleared away leaves.
“Do you think they are in heaven watching me do this,” Kyler asked Nanny.
“Of course they are,” she replied, “and they are smiling down from heaven at you right now.”
Legacy
For a little boy who already understands what is important, this simple gesture was a lesson from his Nanny—a memory that will be her legacy. “I would imagine this is something he and I are going to do together every year,” said Nanny. “I think we’re going to make this a tradition, because it made me feel good to know that this seven-year-old has a heart that is so big that he worried about those graves not having flowers like the others. I’m glad he’s got such a big heart.”
“Kyler was so excited!” Nanny exclaimed. “It made me happy and made me smile that he was so kind hearted to want to put flowers on graves. He was proud and so was I.”
Kyler Congleton is the grandson of Joanne Leigh (Nanny) of Topping, and the son of Renee Aldridge of Topping and Jared Congleton of Saluda. Kyler lives two doors from his Nanny.
