News

S.W. Mo. residents learn to restore gravestones

Posted 7/25/2009 2:35 PM ET

By Linda Leicht Springfield News-Leader

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Squibb Cemetery west of Springfield holds the family histories of the Roses, Redfearns, Mobleys, Leepers, Squibbs and more.

But that history is often hard to decipher. In a scene repeated in old family cemeteries around the country, many of the gravestones are worn with age, broken or fallen over.

It is the scene Mark Rose of Kansas City found when his cousin Rose Jones, of Springfield, took him to the Squibb Cemetery on Memorial Day.

"It just kind of broke my heart," said Mark Rose of finding the worn, toppled stone of Allen Rose -- the patriarch of the Rose family who came to Missouri in 1837. "I thought, 'Surely, we can do something better than this."'

A search for someone who could repair the stone led Rose to a man in Connecticut who provides a unique opportunity for people to learn how to repair and refurbish old headstones.

He arranged for Jonathan Appell to give a workshop at the Squibb Cemetery for anyone interested.

Preserving stones, the right way Abby Burnett of Kingston, Ark., will drive nearly three hours to attend the workshop in Greene County.

"I'm very excited about the class," said Burnett, who serves on the board of the historic Evergreen Cemetery in Fayetteville, Ark., and is writing a book on funeral customs of the Arkansas Ozarks.

She hopes to take the knowledge to help restore broken stones at the old cemetery. She has seen the damage done by doing the wrong thing. She recently photographed a stone that was fixed with Gorilla Glue.

"It dripped down," she said. "It's just ruined."

But she also has a personal interest. Burnett owns a shattered marble gravestone.

"Ideally, after the class I'll be able to take my marble stone and put it back together," she said.

Moses Berry, pastor of Unexpected Joy Orthodox Church in Ash Grove and keeper of the 135-year-old Berry Cemetery, a burial place for "slaves, Indians and paupers," has been working to restore the cemetery. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

"It had gone back to nature" when Berry returned to his hometown in 1997, he said.

Berry learned that he should not use any abrasive detergents or bleach on the old limestone gravestones. Using a mild dish detergent, he has gently cleaned and replaced many of the stones that had grown dark with age and had been knocked over by undergrowth, cattle and time.

He counts 37 headstones within the cemetery fence, and many more that are marked only by indentations in the ground.

With a charter that guarantees the plot will serve as a "perpetual cemetery," the small lot has continued to serve as a final resting place. A woman from Berry's church who died last year is buried there now, and others have requested plots.

"It's a growing cemetery," Berry said.

The workshop is intended to help people such as Burnett and Berry learn how to safely clean stones, repair broken and fractured stones, correct leaning stones and, perhaps most important, what not to do to a stone.

Helping others Appell loves to fix things, and his experience as a monument setter with a cemetery contractor made fixing gravestones a natural. He discovered, however, that the work required specialized training, so he "went on a quest" -- attending seminars, workshops and conferences, and reading everything he could on the subject.

Because there are few businesses that offer repair of old gravestones, and most old cemeteries have little or no money available to hire them, he decided to take his knowledge on the road.

For years Appell has responded to calls to assess and repair stones and do workshops, but the economic turndown has made that unaffordable for many people and cemetery associations. So Appell decided to do a cross-country tour, offering his training at a minimal rate so the most people can attend.

"My whole thing is to do practical, hands-on training," he said, adding that an important part is to warn people about what not to do and how to prevent damage. "My emphasis is on saving the stones that are saveable and not dwelling on the ones that are too far gone.

Appell has several workshops scheduled in Missouri, and will go on as far west as Oregon.

"I'm really pleased that we were able to get somebody of the caliber of Mr. Appell," said Mark Rose.

Working with her cousin, Jones, a member of the Greene County Historic Sites Board and Daughters of the American Revolution, has arranged the workshop in Greene County. She will have a tent for shade and portable toilet for comfort. Those attending should bring plenty of sunscreen and bug spray, as well as their own lunch and water.

Work will be done on site on stones in the small cemetery, although others are invited to bring photos of stones they wish to repair.

One of the projects will be the gravestone of Allen Rose -- born Dec. 25, 1810, died Nov. 16, 1883 -- said Rose:

"We're hoping to get it back together."

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