Honoring Those Who Paved our Way

A few years ago I read this article about how Dutch families maintain the graves of American World War II soldiers who died in the Netherlands. It reminded me of this news piece, I had seen on NBC a few months earlier, about a man who cleaned Veterans tombstones. These pieces spoke to me and I decided to see if I could do something similar.

Owasco Rural Cemetery, located between Skaneateles and Auburn, NY is where my partners parents are buried. We visit there several times a year and it is a small, old cemetery with a lot of history. During our visits I noticed that some of the older sections needed some attention. Dirty and sometimes broken and forgotten headstones. I decided to ask permission to clean them. I attended a meeting of the cemetery board and detailed the cleaning process and biological solution I would use so I didn't do any damage to the stones. I was given permission to clean the stones.

The gravestone of Kate M. and

John H. Rosa

before cleaning and after.

The cemetery dates back to the late 1790's and the older sections include some of the first settlers to the area as well as Veterans from the War of 1812 and the Civil War among others. The older sections (A & B) are easier to obtain permission to clean the stones in since the board no longer has contact information for descendents in those areas. The newer sections would require me to contact the descendents for permission to clean the gravestones.

I decided to start at the front of section A and work my way back. We bought 5 gallons of D2 Biologic and some soft bristled brushes and away I went. I lug water in 5 gallon buckets with me (the only water source at the cemetery is a gravity fed spigot), I bring a camp chair, some towels, and a charged iPhone. I take before and after photos (a few days or weeks later), and I spend hours sitting in the sun or shade or misty rain, cleaning tombstones. No one talks to me, usually, and I can listen to a podcast or the sound of the farmer across the street plowing his fields. Occasionally, someone comes by and I volunteer to clean their ancestors stone in the newer sections. Occasionally they are just interested in why on earth I would be sitting out here doing this.

In the last two years I have cleaned over 50 stones in this cemetery. Friends who visit us have come out to help clean and reset stones that have fallen. This past spring I reached out through a local Facebook group in the area to see if anyone knew how I could acquire replacements for the torn, tattered and missing flags from the Veterans stones. A local woman responded that she would like to donate them in the honor and memory of her family members who had served our country. I was so grateful and through our conversations I learned she had a son who was a part of the Cub Scouts. We worked together to arrange a day for two of the local Cub Scouts Packs to meet me and learn about the Veterans who were buried there and whose gravestones they would clean. I am still in need of information about how to replace the flag holders and emblems that have been broken or are missing.

While I clean the tombstones of all those buried in the cemetery, I thought today was a good day to highlight the work these young people and their families do to honor our Veterans.

On this Veterans Day, which according to the Department of Defense, "honors all of those who have served the country in war or peace — dead or alive..." I think about these young people and their families who came out to spend a couple hours honoring the Veterans who protected and secured our freedom over 200 years ago.