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Loved ones upset that cemetery was closed on Mother's Day

The gates were locked at First Memorial Park Cemetery in Von Ormy, and cemetery officials said it was because flooding rain caused sinkholes.

VON ORMY, Texas — Families who planned to visit loved ones' burial sites at a Von Ormy cemetery on Mother's Day arrived only to find locked gates, and shared their frustration online. 

“This is very sad, the only way we get to visit with our mothers, and y’all are taking it away from a bunch of families,” one Facebook use wrote on a post by First Memorial Park Cemetery.

“Never missed a Mother’s Day,” another user wrote. “This is so ridiculous... y’all just broke a lot of peoples’ hearts.”

In a post from Thursday, First Memorial Park staff said a Saturday Mother’s Day event would be postponed due to a stormy forecast, but confirmed in the comments section that the grounds would be open Sunday.

Instead, videos sent to KENS 5 show a crowd of families outset a closed wait, upset they weren’t able to gain access. 

Bexar County deputies eventually arrived, and by 2 p.m. the gate was opened to allow families inside after, according to authorities, some frustrated visitors tried to force their way in by bending bars on the gate. 

"One of the guys tore down the gate and that's when everybody started going in," said Maria Gonzalez, who was there to visit her mother's burial site.

KENS 5 is told there were a line of cars with people waiting to get inside. 

First Memorial Park Cemetery said on their Facebook page that "the grounds were not safe for the public," due to recent rainfall. They also said they were having a problem with snakes. 

Gonzalez said more should've been done to notify visitors of the closure,

"We just wanted to go see our loved one, take the flowers, do our thing. That's all we asked for," she said.

The business's website show their office hours as being open weekdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and by appointment only on weekends.

We deeply apologize but due to heavy rains, First Memorial Park Cemetery grounds are not safe for the public. We have...

Posted by First Memorial Park Cemetery on Sunday, May 14, 2023

The cemetery later apologized for the inconvenience and said they hope to be back open "as soon as possible."

They also sent us this full statement:

"Due to the heavy rains we have experienced sinkholes and flooding on the cemetery grounds. We were forced to make a difficult decision to close the site on Saturday and Sunday, Mother's Day. This was not a decision we wanted to make, however, in order to keep people safe we were forced to take precautions. 

"We did our best to notify the public via social media and other channels but due to Mother's Day we had many folks trying to visit that had not seen our notifications. We take pride in maintaining a safe environment for families to visit with loved ones, and will continue to prioritize safety for all."

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