Monument Company Repossesses Tombstone

To the dismay of those who loved Nolan Parks III, there’s no longer a tombstone marking his grave at Graceland Cemetery.

“I didn’t know what happened to it,” said his grandmother, Mable Parks.

What happened was that the monument was repossessed by Dunlap’s Pine Bluff Monument Co., which said the family still owed $152.

“I never heard of a monument company repossessing a headstone,” said Parks’ sister, Kathleen Ladd.

Parks, 24, was buried in October 1992, a homicide victim.

Ladd said she paid $549 for the granite monument and had his picture added for $300 more. She said she thought she had paid off the bill.

Parks and Ladd said they never received any letters from the company. Ladd said that since her brother’s death, she has continued to live at the same address, and has provided her address and telephone numbers to Dunlap’s.

The president of Dunlap’s, David Dunlap, said Ladd moved and didn’t leave a forwarding address.

Last week, Parks paid the balance. Dunlap said he didn’t know when the monument would be returned.