BUTTE — What would you do if a tombstone suddenly appeared in your neighborhood?
Well, it happened to a woman on Sept. 13th in the dogtown neighborhood near the Taravonia Headframe in Butte.
She has since been on a quest to find the family members of the person memorialized on the tombstone.
"It was quite a mystery initially," says Allison Andersen, a community leader who has been working to clean up lots in her neighborhood for the past decade.
"Last week, I noticed this stranger who just happened upon the lot. Found (the tombstone) and placed it here with honor. I mean, he put flowers on it. He left stones on it. He laid in front of it for a little bit."
Andersen has lived in her neighborhood for 27 years. She says she was shocked by the appearance of the tombstone because she didn’t know where it came from, and she didn’t recognize the engraved name.
"I was shocked. I was surprised. I wondered, where did it come from? I jumped to the conclusion that it must have come from a cemetery, and I wanted to make sure that it got back to where it belonged," says Andersen.
After a day or so, part of Andersen’s mystery was solved when a relative of Francis H. Boyd who was born in 1908 and passed away on September 13th 2004, came forward on social media.
"She was the grandmother who raised Ellen Montoya, who was the former tenant for 50 years," says Andersen.
Andersen says the tombstone was simply a memorial — Francis was not buried on the property, but she is still curious about the timing of the tombstone’s emergence.
"There’s no words to explain the whole thing. I don’t know! How do you describe it? I saw that it was the anniversary of Frances’ passing," says Andersen.
She says the coincidence of the tombstone emerging right on the anniversary of Francis' death was odd.
Recently, the old home on the property had fallen into disrepair when the Montoya's passed away, and the home became vacant. After cutting through red tape, a local nonprofit that builds affordable housing for working-class families purchased the property and demolished the home that Andersen says was a trap-house filled with needles, blood, and junk.
She says the affordable housing agency that owns the property is working with Francis’ family member to return the tombstone, and Anderson is looking forward to the new life that will soon inhabit the neighborhood.
WATCH: The mystery behind the tombstone appearing in Butte neighborhood
As if on cue, a neighborhood cat saunters up to the memorial tombstone and begins meowing.
"That's Pricilla. She's the neighborhood spirit animal," says Andersen.
The cat patrols the neighborhood collecting cuddles from anyone who passes by.
"What was once here will be new again, and we’ll have new life with all new homes – safe and affordable homes," says Andersen.
Within the next year, five new housing units for working-class families will be built on the property and surrounding lots by the local National Affordable Housing Agency and Habitat for Humanity.
