Even when someone lives a long fulfilling life, it’s difficult to to say goodbye when death comes. But it’s even harder to accept when the departed is your child and he or she was taken in the prime of their life. Unfortunately, Raymond and Rachel Villasenor were forced to do just this. Their son Joseph was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force when he passed away at just 36 years old. Even when someone lives a long fulfilling life, it’s difficult to to say goodbye when death comes.

But it’s even harder to accept when the departed is your child and they taken in the prime of their life. Unfortunately, Raymond and Rachel Villasenor were forced to do just this. Their son Joseph was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force when he died in a car crash in South Carolina in 2010. He was only 36 years old.

One day in 2015, when his parents were visiting his grave, they noticed that the grass on his grave was lush and green, while all the graves around it were completely brown. They couldn’t believe it and thought it was a miracle.

Jake Reissig, 86, had recently lost his wife and was at the cemetery to leave her some flowers when he saw a young woman in tears. Jake went over to comfort her and the woman turned out to be Joseph’s sister. She told Jake about her brother, and Jake got an idea. “He thought, ‘How could I not better honor him than by watering his grass also?’” Roger Reissig, Jake’s son, said.

After Jake left the cemetery, he promised himself that he’d do something for Joseph. Every day when Jake visited his wife’s grave, he watered her grave to keep it looking beautiful and alive – and he did the same for Joseph. When Joseph’s parents, Rachel and Raymond, visited their son’s grave, they couldn’t understand why Joseph’s grave was so green. But when they learned who was behind the grass on top of their son’s grave, they were overcome with emotions.

Rachel burst into tears when she saw Jake, and then when he offered her the hose to water her son’s grave she couldn’t contain herself. “She just stood there crying,” Roger said. “I think it was therapeutic for her.” The Villasenor family was astounded that someone was kind enough to take care of their son’s grave, but Roger said his father wasn’t a stranger to Joseph because every day he would talk to him.