Tree Shaped Tombstones......Daphne?

From time to time roving correspondents - in this case my brother - send me pictures of odd tombstones.  This one was from a small town called Mineopa, over near Mankato Minnesota.  At first glance it did not look like an official "Tree Shaped Tombstone".  

Here's another view.  Note the diminutive tree adjacent to the young lady?

As with all graves of young people there is an innate sadness here.  But I wonder if there is something else going on.  

This combination of themes jogged a memory.

From my trusty copy of Bullfinch's Mythology Daphne.  A nymph, daughter of a river god and loved by Apollo, who killed his rival Leucippus.  Daphne escaped and was later changed into a laurel or bay tree which remained henceforth the favorite tree of the sun god.  The hand on the bouquet of flowers sure suggests Preservation of Virtue.

Apollo is portrayed as the jerk in this story and indeed, that is his defining trait.  But supposedly it was not entirely his fault.  Apollo considered himself to be pretty darn studly and was mocking a runty guy with a boy.  The shrimp challenged the sun god to an archery duel and easily hit Apollo with an arrow that caused unreasonable, passionate ardor....and Daphne with a different model that caused total antipathy.

Don't mess with Cupid.  Good advice for all ages.

Unfortunately the photo is not clear enough for names and dates, so I can't say if there was anything out of the ordinary going on here.  No, most likely just the tragedy of an early death and of grieving parents picking a monument out of a catalog.