Update On Stone Stolen From Etna Gravesite

Last week, we told you about the theft of a special stone from a gravesite at a cemetery in Penobscot County. The stone was taken from the grave of David Patrick Underhill, who passed away in a car accident in February and laid to rest at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Etna.

Underhill's family, including his 5-year-old son, Eli, visit the gravesite on a regular basis. They noticed that between their visit on October 24th and October 25th, a special stone that Eli had been gifted by a local ceramics shop to honor his late dad, was missing.

Understandably, the young boy was heartbroken, so his mom Taylor Jae Richard, shared the story on social media, in hopes that whomever took the stone would return it.

Read More: Mother's Plea For Missing Grave Stone In Penobscot County

Folks even went so far as to check with the shop the stone came from, to see if there was another, or one similar, that could replace the one that went missing.

After several calls to the cemetery sexton, and countless checks of the graveside, the family started to become disheartened that the stone had not been returned.

Wanting to make things right for her son, Richard reached out to a family friend with a request for help.

"When our dear friend Katie found out it was missing, she went straight to the same ceramics shop where Eli and I had found the original. They didn’t have one exactly the same, only a smaller version, but she bought it right away just in case. I held out for almost a week, afraid that Eli would know it wasn’t the same stone, and praying the original would somehow be returned. But as the days passed and Eli’s hope began to dwindle, I couldn't bear it any longer. I asked Katie if she would place the new one on his daddy’s grave before our Halloween visit. Eli wanted to go trick-or-treating with Daddy this year, dressed up as Daddy, hard hat and all."

"Katie didn’t just put the stone there. She went above and beyond, leaving a Halloween cup filled with Reese’s (their favorite candy to share), gumballs (since Eli had his own mini gumball machine at Daddy’s), quarters for “the gumball store” they used to visit, confetti balloons, and a note from Daddy in Heaven."

""In that note, Daddy explained that he had borrowed Eli’s elephant stone for a while to show God how beautiful it was, and to keep it close to him for a good, long snuggle. He told Eli how proud he is of him and how much he loves and misses him."

"When we got there, Eli knelt down, dressed just like his daddy, hugged his stone, and pulled out that note with the biggest smile. The new elephant stone sat right beside him, and right next to it, that one tiny flower, still blooming, in the very spot where Eli sat when he first placed his original stone months ago.  Eli never mentioned the stone being any different. He just smiled, so glad to have that piece of his heart back, right where it belongs."

Read More: Tiny Building in Bangor's Mt. Hope Cemetery Had a Surprising Use

"He also received another golden elephant stone from a friend of his daddy’s from high school."

"The elephant is back, and with it, a little piece of Eli’s heart has been restored.
Even in the smallest things, God shows us that He sees, He cares, and He never stops healing what’s been broken."

We're glad Eli now has two special reminders of his dad, and hopefully the knowledge that while there might be things in the world that are upsetting, there's also a lot of good in this world, and people ready to help.