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Monumental makeover

Bear River Heritage Specialist, Lisa Duskin-Goede (left) scrubs a headstone while Dennis Bodily, owner of Logan Memorial digs out the base of the headstone during Monday's gravestone preservation workshop lead by gravestone conservator and monumental mason Jonathan Appell, in Logan Cemetary. (Meegan M. Reid/Herald Journal)

By Emilie H. Wheeler

Published: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 2:45 AM CDT

Gravestone specialist leads fix-it workshop

As the years have gone by, Willia Sloan Parkinson’s gravestone has sunk.

Situated on the extreme south side of the Logan cemetery, the 109-year-old gravestone has been a victim of a pool of water that regularly collects nearby and the typical settling to which most grave sites are subjected.

On Monday, it — and a few other grave sites — got a bit of a facelift.

As part of a workshop lesson gravestone conservator Jonathan Appell conducted for more than a dozen interested people, the base of 6-year-old Willia’s gravestone was lifted several inches out of the ground — closer to where it originally was placed in 1900.

“It’s sunk unevenly,” Appell said as he dug out dirt and grass that surrounded the grave. “The first step is always to level the base.”

After using a system to lift the stone, the class members placed gravel underneath and helped settle it with water before leveling and placing the base back on the ground. The base was cleaned, revealing careful etchings in the stone that have been hidden over the years.

Appell was brought to Cache Valley by the Bear River Heritage Area for a full-day workshop at the Logan cemetery. He’s on the tail end of more than a month-long tour throughout the U.S. educating people about how to best maintain and preserve gravestones.

Monument makers, cemetery staffers, historical society members and others attended the workshop, hoping to pick up tips on how best to care for and install the gravestones.

“I’m sure people will eventually ask me questions about how to (maintain or fix) gravestones,” said Becky Christensen, who has worked with the Providence city cemetery for about a year.

Appell does longer tutorials — he came to Logan after conducting a three-day workshop in Ephraim at Snow College — but said during the one-day experience he tries to impart as much random knowledge as he can.

“I throw out just a lot of information,” he said. “I touch on geology, so many different things. Different things touch home or inspire different people.”

Appell, who calls Connecticut home, has been working with gravestones since 1987. In addition to touring the country, he operates the Web site www.gravestoneconservation.com and does specific projects, research and planning dealing with gravestones.

He teaches about various aspects dealing with cemeteries, including preservation planning, condition assessment, conservation, replacement of lost stones, repointing and reconstructing of structures and how to strengthen fragile gravestones.

Lisa Duskin-Goede, with the Bear River Heritage Area, said she received information about Appell from a state organization before requesting he visit Logan. She said Monday she hoped those who attended the workshop — which included a few from out of state — were able to walk away better educated.

Duskin-Goede said right now she’s working on a cemetery itinerary for travelers, so the visit fit in with the Bear River Heritage Area’s current focus.

“The more I listened to him, the more I realized that this was needed here,” she said of her original conversation with Appell. “Our own cemetery workers don’t always have time to get into the art of preservation. A lot of us need to have these skills and share them with each others.”

Appell says he’s the only person in the country with his specific type of job.

“I realized there was a need for that,” he said.

Because there are cemeteries in nearly every town in America, Appell said he encourages anyone to learn a bit more about gravestone conservation.

“A lot of people can’t hire anyone who is a professional,” he said. “I try to inspire people to want to read more, so I offer avenues where they can find information on the Internet and additional sources if they’re so inclined.”

For Hope Bodily, the owner of Logan Memorials, the workshop lent a few ideas but also reassured her.

“It’s confirmed a lot of things we’ve been doing,” she said. “Sometimes, we do do things the hard way, and I’ve learned some different techniques.”

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