Grandma's ashes returned after urn is accidentaly sold at FWB garage sale (PHOTO GALLERY)

FORT WALTON BEACH — Piper Gaffrey’s grandmother was sold at last week’s yard sale.

She wouldn’t dare ask for how much.

Marjorie Potts Gaffrey, aka Grandma Marge, was sitting on a counter as strangers rummaged through family belongings left behind during a move to downtown Fort Walton Beach.

When Grandma Marge died last February at the age of 99, some of her ashes were placed in Gaffrey’s potted violet.

“I know it’s illegal, but I wanted to keep her. It was hard to let go of her, still is,” Gaffrey said. “I am everything I am today because of her.”

• View a photo gallery of Grandma Marge. »

Gaffrey’s husband had advertised the yard sale on Craig’s List. By the time Gaffrey arrived, Grandma Marge was gone and strangers were rummaging through her drawers.

After her death, the family followed Grandma Marge’s wishes and had her cremated. Gaffrey and her sister carried the urn to the funeral in Petersburg.

On the way to the service, Gaffrey and her sister stopped for flowers. They each bought a bouquet for the service and potted violets like the ones Grandma Marge grew on her window sill.

They opened the urn and added some of the ashes to the violets. Both felt the violets would live forever because Grandma was now a part of them.

Gaffrey also lost a pearl necklace at the yard sale, but it was the violet she yearned to find. She posted a message on her Facebook page.

Gaffrey is no stranger to social media. She has had the Facebook account for more than two years. She has two blogs and would have had a MySpace site as well had her kids not told her it would be “so embarrassing” for them.

Grandma Marge never bothered with computers, but Gaffrey said it has been vital to her relationship with her kids. She can tell them she loves them and even get away with embarrassing nicknames when she texts or communicates with them through Facebook.

“That’s how this generation is communicating. You either learn how to do it or you don’t talk to them,” Gaffrey said.

She never expected the Internet would bring her closer to a previous generation.

Gaffrey’s Facebook status read, “Dear Garage Sale People...who ever got the violet...that was my grandma...she meant the world to me...whoever got her...please take care of her! She lived to be 99 and made the world a better place...Love you Marge! I miss you, you will always be apart of me!”

She never imagined the post, visible to about a thousand friends and acquaintances, would result in anything more than a few sympathetic comments. But within 24 hours, she received a private message from the buyer, who said the coveted plant would be returned.

Grandma is still alive and thriving in a pot of soil, safe and sound in Gaffrey’s new home.

“Fortunately, it was (bought by) someone who knew me,” Gaffrey said. “I was just glad to have her back.”