CLEANING A GRAVESTONE:
I am not necessarily a fan of social media per se but I do use Facebook for the many "research" related groups that are available on that site.
One of the groups that I belong to is devoted to memories of living in Benton Harbor and Saint Joseph, Michigan and contains a wealth of information on the history of my home town.
Recently there was a post on the site from a gentleman who announced that he had a "Gravestone Cleaning" business that he had just begun and he was interested in spreading the word on this service. He offered the first person who would respond a free cleaning of a family gravestone. I responded to his post and, amazingly, he answered me that he would be willing to clean a gravestone of my choosing for free.
My maternal grandparents, Joseph and Ella (Kolberg) Kijak, are buried in the Lincoln Township Cemetery in Stevensville, Michigan and I selected their gravestone for cleaning. I exchanged a few messages with this gentleman, who told me his name was Samuel, and he agreed to clean my grandparent's gravestone.
My grandparents bought the burial site and gravestone in 1955. My grandfather passed away on October 23, 1960 and my grandmother on May 29, 1973. Since I moved back to the area in 1997, I have visited their grave many times each year, placed flowers there every summer and have noticed the stone becoming more and more faded. They had selected a stone at that time, with the engraving on both sides, and both sides were definitely seeing the effects of the weather and the last 70 years.
Kijak gravestone, 2025, before cleaning:
After Samuel finished his cleaning the results were amazing.
Kijak gravestone, 2025, after cleaning:
These are pictures from each side of the gravestone taken by Samuel. I went to the cemetery the next day and the pictures don't even do the results justice, as the final results were perfect; just as though the stone was just placed.
I was very pleased with the work that Samuel did and I was happy to give him permission to use my pictures for his advertising.
I wish him much success with his new business venture and I may use him in the future for the gravestone of my great-grandparents.
Joseph and Ella Kijak, August 8, 1945, Ella's 50'th birthday:
copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte
2 comments:
Wow, he did a nice job, Cheryl. It does look like new. Sorry to hear that Blogger has gotten so quirky though. Hard enough to do all the research and prep work for a blog post, and then to have to fight with the software to get it to work right, that's gotta be really annoying!
He really did a great job and the price was right!
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