The Washington Post
By John Kelly
Monday, September 29, 2008
Black spray paint on white marble makes for a jarring and unappealing combination, sort of like maggots on ice cream. It’s a jackboot on a posy, and it both saddens and infuriates Mary Lipsey and Lynne Garvey-Hodge.
One morning last week, the two women stood next to a once-handsome, 100-year-old marble grave marker in Burke. The 10-foot-tall obelisk was covered in paint: peace signs, hearts, a hammer and sickle, the initials “T.G.”
The words “They will live forever” covered one side.
“It’s black humor,” Lynne said of the odd graffito. “It’s sardonic.”
“It’s very sad,” Mary said.
“Very sad,” Lynne repeated. “It’s pathetic, actually.”
Under the obelisk — and presumably unaware of the fuss up above — were the bodies of John A…
