WELLINGTON — The Whirlaway Corp. has a problem: There are graves at the edge of its parking lot.

In fact, an elegant tombstone used to mark the place where a husband and wife were buried.

The auto parts company has contracted to have the parking lot paved, and the plan was to cover the graves Charles W. Seeley, who died in 1880 at the age of 82, and his wife Lucy, who died two years later at age 73, with black tar.

That plan was put on hold, however, after a woman called police to complain when she saw work crews at the company's West Herrick Street plant moving the stone.

Whirlaway owner Thomas Zupan said he planned to replace the tombstone on top of the blacktop and place a fence around the gravesite, which is located on his property.

That's fine plan, according to Village Councilman Harold Sumpter, a member of the Cemetery Board.

But the county coroner has a different opinion.

"That's not proper," Paul Matus said. "They should have just exhumed the bodies."

Sumpter said the bodies probably were buried on a family homestead next to the Union Cemetery.

The phone book lists numerous Seeleys in the area, but the descendants of Charles W. Seeley and his wife, Lucy, could not be immediately identified.

Charles D. Seeley, 40, said his grandfather's name was the same as the man who is buried in the grave but he was told they were not related. James Seeley, 74, a distant relative of Charles D. Seeley, said there used to be three Charles Seeleys on that block "and the mailman had a real hard time."

Zupan said he asked a funeral director about the burial site a number of years ago and was told the bodies likely had completely decomposed and all that was left was dust.

But Matus said that isn't necessarily so. He recalled when he assisted crews clearing debris from the old cemetery in Pittsfield Township after a tornado ripped through on Palm Sunday in 1965.

"It uprooted the trees and exposed the coffins," he said.

Some coffins dating back to the 1800s were still intact. He peered into a hole of one coffin and saw a skeleton.

Zupan offered to pay to exhume the bodies if the whole thing could be done quickly — like today. The company is in a hurry to complete the paving project.

"We want to do the right thing and show a little respect for the family," Zupan said.

He said the matter has always been a little troubling.

"Do you have a grave marker in your parking lot?" he asked.

Matus said the village of Wellington would likely assist by offering a cemetery plot.

It was not against state law in the 1800s, or even now, to bury people in a private plot, Matus said. Most cities and villages now have zoning codes prohibiting the practice, but some rural folk including the Amish still bury people on their own land, he said.

The problem comes when the land changes hand and developers start digging up graves, he said.

That's why the state coroner's association is pressing lawmakers to require that family plots be described in a public record and filed with the county recorder’s office.

"It would be a lot less grief," Matus said.

The woman who called police to complain about the tombstone being moved was unavailable for comment, but her mother said she wanted someone to look into the matter.

"She said, 'If that was you, Mom, I'd be concerned,' " the mother said.

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