TIFTON — On March 17, the grave of Edgar Willis Dean will finally be complete, nearly 40 years after he was buried.

A headstone for Dean’s grave was recently discovered in Lenox, according to Warren Robinson. It was found on a piece of East Central Avenue property Robinson owns when the current tenant decided to level out a large mound of dirt.

Within that mound of dirt was a headstone.

It read as follows:

Edgar W Dean

US Army

World War II

Jan. 3 1923

Aug 31 1978

Robinson bought the land in the early 2000s, and the dirt pile was there as far back as he can remember.

“And why it [the gravestone] was there, I have no idea,” said Robinson.

While researching Dean, Robinson found his obituary from 1978 that ran in The Tifton Gazette.

He made contact with Dean’s son, Donnie Dean, who lives in Texas as well as relatives in Tifton.

He found out  Dean was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery without his military headstone, but how it ended up in Lenox, miles away from his grave, no one seems to know.

Robinson estimates the headstone weighs 500-600 pounds.

“A group of teenagers aren’t just going to pull this out of the ground and dump it in Lenox,” he said.

Robinson got the headstone into the hands of Eaton Memorials.

“It looks nice now, but when we took it out, it looked awful,” said Robinson. “And he would not take any money for it.”

The headstone and the grave will be joined together in a ceremony at noon, March 17, at Oak Ridge Cemetery honoring Dean for his WWII service and remembering his life.

“We want as many people who can to come and pay a final tribute for a soldier,” said Robinson.