MUNCIE, IN — Bob Good has spent nearly two decades crouching in front of headstones that most people walk past without reading. Knees in the dirt, he carefully scrubbed names back into stones.
“These memorials were put up by their families,” Good said. “A lot of times, that family is gone now. Somebody needs to take care of them.” Good’s path to headstone restoration began with his mother, who led him through cemeteries as a kid while doing genealogy research. Finding his own family’s tombstones fallen over and neglected planted a seed.
After retiring, he joined the Delaware County Historical Society and spent nearly two decades leading tombstone restoration crews.
“It doesn’t hurt to give it a little loving care,” he said.
On June 27, Good was at Beech Grove Cemetery, alongside Troy Watters and a small group of volunteers scrubbing stones on a humid, drizzly afternoon.
Watters, the cemetery’s superintendent and someone who calls Good a restoration “pioneer,” is the driving force behind a new volunteer effort to clean, repair and restore Beech Grove’s headstones, some dating back to the early 1800s.
“Over the years, [stone cleaning has] just got neglected and so we’re trying to improve it and restore it,” he said.
Beech Grove has been accumulating history since 1841. It spans 140 acres, holds more than 50,000 burials, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Zac Bow, vice president of Beech Grove Cemetery’s board and member of the Delaware County Historical Society, described the importance of the effort plainly.
“Anyone who was anyone in Muncie for the longest time was buried here,” he said. “When you walk here, you get a sense of the history and progression of the city, who was who and what they did. [Restoring] connects you to your city, connects you to the place you live more deeply.”
That connection is exactly why the volunteer effort matters and why they want more people to join. There are handfuls of broken stones to epoxy back together and inscriptions too faded to read.
By the end of the afternoon, the headstone that Watters and his volunteers selected is clean. Its name, date and life are visible again.
“It gives you a good feeling to restore something that looks like it should,” Good said. “Like it looked the day it was put up.”
Beech Grove Cemetery is actively seeking volunteers 18 and older to contribute to upcoming workdays, which run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the cemetery. Subsequent dates are July 18, August 15, September 19, October 17, and November 14 (weather permitting).
Tools and supplies are provided and volunteers are encouraged to bring gloves, knee pads or foam padding, and a stool or chair. To sign up or donate supplies, contact Watters at (765) 741-1352 or at twatters@muncie.in.gov.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Cemetery volunteers restore headstones neglected for over a century
Reporting by Trinity Rea, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Trinity Rea, Muncie Star Press | USA TODAY Network
