Walker's gravestone at Spring Grove Cemetery Cincinnati has been done in the likeness of popular cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. Kara Walker/AP
Cemetery Won't Let Soldier Have a SpongeBob Gravestone
Owner says design doesn't fit within the cemetery's guidelines.
If you serve this country, as the late Army Sgt. Kimberly Walker did in Iraq for two tours, shouldn't you be allowed to have whatever gravestone you want — even if it is SpongeBob Squarepants? That's the question at the center of a battle at the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Walker was buried at Spring Grove on October 10 — she did not die in combat, she was allegedly killed by her boyfriend.
Walker, who was 28 when she died, loved SpongeBob (she watched it growing up), and her family, according to CNN, got the all-clear from the cemetery and spent $26,000 on two 6-foot-tall, 7,000-lb. SpongeBob gravestones. One was dressed in Walker's uniform, the other was dressed in her twin sister's Navy uniform. The monuments were removed a day later, because the cemetery's owner said it didn't fit within the guidelines. The cemetery's president told CNN:
"The family chose a design with the guidance of a Spring Grove employee who unfortunately made an error in judgment. The monument does not fit within Spring Grove Cemetery guidelines, was not approved by senior management and cannot remain here."