On a Saturday morning, I tossed my camera in the car and headed for Forks. Specifically, the Forks Cemetery. The Michael Trebert Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution cleans veterans’ headstones and grave markers throughout the summer, and I decided to join them. Too many veterans are ignored, both while living and deceased. Cleaning their markers was my way to respect those who served to preserve our rights and freedom.
A lovely and well-maintained cemetery, with tall rhododendrons scattered throughout, I pulled in at 11 am, bucket, gloves, scrub brush and sponges in the trunk.
After instruction on how to clean the markers (no, you can’t just scrub them as improper cleaning can accelerate the deterioration of marble and granite), I headed off with my bucket of soapy water to start on a headstone.
Cleaning is not a quick process – in the course of 4 hours, I cleaned only 5 headstones! First you have to wet the stone down, then scrub it with a soft brush using a solution of water and Orvus (an anionic detergent with a neutral pH) that’s safe to use on the old headstones. Then a rinse, then a spray and scrub with the D/2 ( a biodegradable liquid that removes stains from mold, algae, mildew, lichens etc.), then another rinse, and then another spritz with D/2. And that’s after you pull weeds and clean up around the marker!
I spent nearly an hour with LeRoy Johnson. I can’t help myself, I’m a chatterer, and I found myself in an admittedly one-sided conversation with him.
We were joined by sevral families from the local LDS church. These young boys worked steadily for over an hour!
Links of Interest:
- Michael Trebert Chapter, DAR – website
- Find-A-Grave memorial for LeRoy Johnson – website
- Cleaning Government-Furnished Headstones and Markers – information from the VA’s National Cemetery Administration
