“I try to treat it like it’s my own family,” Crist said. “I try to take pride and doing it the way I would want it [done] if somebody was doing it for me. We try to put all our dedication to make it look the best because it’s already a grieving process these people have gone through.”
Crist said several of the graves at the German Twp. site are generational families. He said he knows several people who own farmland in the area who have family buried there.
Research provided by Detrick lists at least 10 members of the Harshbarger family buried there as early as 1839.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Drake Memorial restored a monument for Hannah and John Freeze, a husband and wife who died in 1876 and 1888 respectively.
Crist said the memorial, which sits on a hill, had sunk nine inches into the ground on one side, so he had to remove several pieces and lift the whole structure up to level it out and put some rocks and reinforcements under the one side where the hill starts to slope to prevent it from sinking again. The project took about three and-a-half hours from start to finish.
“When I’m not around, the future generations — if they see my family’s monument falling over — I would appreciate if somebody would take time out of their day to make the cemetery look nice,” Crist said. “It’s just respect for the people that came before me.”
Detrick said he has helped restore numerous graves, and it was “icing on the cake” to have a professional help with this project.
Graves can be restored using stain remover Wet & Forget, Detrick said, which can be sprayed on and reapplied as needed to turn stones “from black to gray to white again.”
The restoration’s location was especially significant for Crist and another Drake Memorial employee because it is on the grounds of their old high school.
“We were very happy to help restore the cemetery in front of our old high school as well,” Crist said.
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