Long, lost gravestone of Annie Barton, buried in Hamilton backyard, returned to family

After years of sitting undiscovered under a layer of earth inthe back garden of a home on Hamilton's east end, Annie Barton was finally reunited with her family Friday.

The mystery that started when Julie Densham dug up thered, granite gravestoneof thewoman who was buried 60 years ago, was finally solved this week.

• Is there a body in my backyard? Woman unearths 60-year-old gravestone while gardening

After making thediscovery while working in her backyard and wondering if the rest of Annie's remainswerelying below that heavy stone, Densham took to social media. She shared a photo of the marker and askedif anyone knew who it belonged to.

Jim Boyko was at work when he called his wife during his lunch break. She told him,"You're the biggest thing on social media right now."

That was Boyko's first hint that he'd forgotten his great-grandmother's stone back at his old house near the corner of Newlands and Kenilworth Avenues.

Maybe this is the way my mom is trying to tell me 'You forgot the stone back there.'-Jim Boyko, great-grandson of Annie Barton

He figured if the woman who found it was worried about a possible body, he better call her.

What he didn't expect was Densham's reaction. A self-described "lover of creepy things," she was actually a little disappointed to learn her garden wasn't Annie's final resting place.

"I don't get freaked out about that stuff. I find it fascinating," she explained. "It was a mystery.I wanted a body to be there but there wasn't and that's OK too."

Boykosaid the story of how 92-year-old's stone ended up out back isn't actually very eerie and explains why the words "TILL WE MEET AGAIN" are engraved on it.

When his grandmother Florence was buried back in 1980, she was placed in the same grave as her mother, Annie. That meant the original stone was replaced with one bearing the names of both women. The promise of that reunion was why those words were carved in the first place.

The family was given the option of taking the stone home.Boyko said he still remembers thinking as a kid that having a gravestone in the backyard was "kind of weird."

'It was just a stone'

But over time, they got used to its presence. So much so that it eventually became a stepping stone totheir shed face down of course.

"Growing up, it was just a stone. I knew it was a marker, but it wasn't the grave marker anymore," said Boyko, adding Friday marked the first time in decades he'd actually seen it turned over.

The familyleft the stone behind when they moved out of the house in the winter of 2010, not intentionally. By that point, it was just another rock.

Boyko said he wasn't sure if he should take it back when Densham offered, but everyone he talked to told him it would be the right thing to do. He figures that might be a message from his mother.

"Maybe this is the way my mom is trying to tell me 'You forgot the stone back there and it's time for you to come back.'"

On Friday, he showed up with a pickup truck to take her home. Without ceremony, Boykoplucked the stone from the thick mud, rinsed itoff like a piece of garden fresh produce,and carted Annie away.

He said he still isn't sure what they'll do with the stone it might even end up by their shed again but one thing's for sure, they won't forget Annie again.

"If we ... end up leaving when we move on, everybody's going to have a story that Annie is still moving around the city," he joked.

A final message from Annie

Densham said she's a little disappointed the stone is leaving her gardenthe most interesting thing she's found since was a golf tee.

But she has plans to name her next cat Annie in the memory of the woman she'd talk to each morning after making her backyard discovery.

"I greeted her each morning, 'Hey Annie, how are you? You're leaving soon.' She didn't answer back, but when Jim came to pick her up the sky opened up, the thunder rolled and I think she was talking to us then."