7 On Your Side helps family get loved one's tombstone engraved after waiting over year
STATEN ISLAND, New York (WABC) -- A family from Staten Island has been trying to add the last touch to their loved one's final resting place for more than a year, but when they paid for an inscription to be added to the gravestone, the name was never engraved.
Jen Dolan's Uncle John died over a year ago. The larger-than-life character left a big hole in the heart of the Dolan family on Staten Island.
"A lot of pockets of Staten Island people would know who 'Big Red Dolan' was," Jen Dolan said. "He was a good time. He was a fun guy. He was a good uncle. He was someone who ultimately cared a lot about his family and we miss him."
But his family can't close this sad chapter, because Uncle John's inscription is missing from his headstone, despite the family paying with a personal check to Azzara Funeral Home for the engraving two months after "Big Red" passed on September 28, 2023.
Dolan says that last September, from his nursing home, her father wrote out a check to have his brother's name added to the family headstone. The check was cashed, and the work was promised first in April, May and June. By July, when it wasn't complete, they reached out to 7 On Your Side for help.
"There was some illness on the part of one of the people at the funeral home, the inscriber went to the Dominican Republic for the summer, they were back logged... it was a different story every time we spoke to them," Dolan said
She let the funeral home know that she had initiated complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the New York Attorney General's Office, threatened to go to Small Claims Court and told them that she would alert the media. That's when Dolan says she got a text at the beginning of July promising completion of the inscription by July 11.
A month later, the name John Dolan was still missing from the headstone.
7 On Your Side contacted Azzara Funeral Home on the Dolan's behalf. The manager of the family-owned business said they have been operating since 1896, and sent us a statement.
"There are factors that can affect the timing of the work, like weather and other funerals in the area that may not allow access to the grave," the statement said. "The order was done on time. We went over and above for the family."
After waiting 14 months, Dolan says that the engraving was completed three days after 7 On Your Side contacted the funeral home.
Finally, Jen Dolan's beloved uncle has his named etched forever onto his final resting place.
"I think it's an amazing resource and we are really appreciative of everything you did for the family," Dolan said to 7 On Your Side.
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