YOUNGSTOWN'S WEST SIDE Family finally gets peace after long burial ordeal

DNA results proved the remains are indeed those of Patrick Lantz.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Sherry Lantz says she and her family finally have a sense of closure now that her brother is properly laid to rest.
"When it was all over, it was just a peaceful sense of relief," the former Youngstown resident said. "It was a big relief to know that something that was wrong all these years has finally been made right."
DNA test results received late last month proved remains buried at Calvary Cemetery on the city's West Side are those of Patrick Lantz.
Sherry Lantz, who now lives in Fort Myers, Fla., is the sister of Patrick, who died at age 3 in 1974 of a rare genetic disease. Patrick was originally buried in the children's section of the cemetery, but when family members tried to have his remains moved to another section in 1999, it started a four-year ordeal.
After the death of their father, William, Sherry and her brother, Joe Lantz, asked officials from the Catholic Diocese -- which owns the cemetery -- to move Patrick and their sister, Jody, from the children's section to spots on each side of their father.
Workers had no problems locating and moving Jody, but Patrick's exact location was unknown.
Digging another grave
When Sherry arrived at the cemetery to observe the move, workers were digging up a plot several spots down from where Patrick's headstone was. Cemetery officials said a mistake was made during the initial burial -- Patrick was in the right spot, but the headstone wasn't.
Family members, however, were not convinced.
The Lantzes and their mother, Edna Carder of Fort Myers, asked the diocese to open the grave and conduct DNA tests to make sure it was Patrick. After the family filed a lawsuit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court last year, the diocese agreed to pay for the testing. After initial results were inconclusive, a lab in Canada was able to find the truth and confirm what the cemetery had said all along.
"A lab in Lakehead University in Ontario did the testing," Lantz said. "It's not 100 percent, but nothing ever is. But they told us they found enough markers between samples from Patrick and my mother to be sure it is him."
Family gathers
Lantz said she got the news just days before she returned to the Youngstown area for a visit, and the diocese agreed to fly her mother up for Patrick's final burial.
Lantz said Higgins-Reardon Funeral Home donated a new coffin, and cemetery workers cleaned the grave site and headstones before the family's arrival.
The family gathered in the cemetery's chapel a little more than two weeks ago for a burial mass, conducted by Monsignor Robert Siffron, and witnessed Patrick's coffin being lowered into the ground.
Lantz said the service gave her a sense of closure, and even helped to restore some of her faith.
"Monsignor Siffron really had an impact on me," she said. "He really was there for us, showing compassion through all of this. There are good people and bad people everywhere, even in the Catholic church, but he really was a godsend for me."
Glad to help
Monsignor Siffron said that he was pleased the ordeal was finally resolved, and that he was happy for the Lantz family.
"It really taught me, though, that there are so many families facing so many challenges, and how difficult it can be for a family to worry about the certitude of putting a loved one to rest," he said. "It was just wonderful the family was able to gather and pray for Patrick."
slshaulis@vindy.com