Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.   Kyndall Sabel-Campbell would have been 31 years old now. She was five years old when she died in a propane gas explosion that destroyed her father’s house in Nederland in 1991. It was a tragic accident that devastated the entire community who had grown to love the cheerful, bright little girl.

In 1992, a granite teddy bear was built as a memorial for Kyndall and over the years, adults and Kyndall’s classmates have adorned the steps of the memorial with toys and flowers, bracelets and pictures. Many of the items slowly melted into the ground, but a few of them have remained for over 20 years.

A large piece of pink quartz and a blue geode have perched on either side of the teddy bear, not moving in the highest winds or the deepest snowfalls. These two precious rocks were gifts to Kyndall that have comforted her mother, Pattie Sabel, every time she has gone to visit the memorial. She found the pink rock while on a spiritual journey to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, looking for healing after Kyndall’s death. She found the quartz in the Black Hills and brought it back to her, knowing how much Kyndall loved pink and loved rocks. A friend added the blue geode to the other side of the memorial.

For 25 years, on Memorial Day, Pattie has planted flowers and tended the perennials that grow around the gravesite, bringing in soil and new plants to keep the memorial fresh and cared for. She also plants flowers and tends Harmony’s grave. Harmony was another Nederland Elementary School student who died in an accident, when she was eight years old.

After Memorial Day cleanup and planting, Pattie returns every two weeks to water the flowers and there are always new treasures. “People have been so sweet and kind, the kids have left things for Kyndall and the adults still remember her and pay their respects.” The last time she visited the cemetery was in the fall.

Last week, on Memorial Day, Pattie went to the Nederland Cemetery to begin her annual work of weeding, turning the soil and planting and was shocked to find that the quartz rock and geode as well as all the other gifts that had adorned the memorial over the years, were gone.

“I went to clean the gravesite and see what I needed for planting. It was still too cold to put in new plants and everything that had been on the steps was gone. It broke my heart. Things that have been there for over 20 years were just gone. I am just devastated. I feel as if someone has violated the gifts that people thought she would have liked, that were precious to me.”

Pattie says that a black rock was left where the other rocks had been. She doesn’t know if the rock was intended as a replacement or something else. She hopes that maybe someone picked up the mementos not knowing they were so significant.

“I don’t care who took them, but maybe if they know how upsetting this is to me, they might bring them back. I haven’t been able to get up the heart to go back and plant new flowers, but maybe if they are returned to Kyndall, I can start again.”

The memorial is bare right now. Pattie said she was crushed at the violation of her daughter’s memorial, that it took the wind out of here sails.

“I am reaching out to the community, that maybe someone knows something about it, or if whoever took the rocks learns how much they mean to me, they would bring them back.”