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Mormons give fallen tombstones needed lift
Sunday, November 05, 2000 By Ann Belser, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Most Pittsburghers know the names of Henry Clay Frick, Michael Benedum and Henry John Heinz -- prominent men who have prominent markers in Homewood Cemetery.
Martin Getty, his wife, Hannah, and Raymond C. Yeager were lesser-known people whose names were missing in the cemetery after their tombstones toppled. Their identities were buried in the dirt, above their remains.
Yesterday it took about 30 men and five women -- all members of the Pittsburgh First Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- three hours to right the fallen tombstones of people who died decades ago.
Each one of the 20 markers had to be dug out of the dirt, then hoisted into place. Muscles, crowbars and a winch on a tripod were used to restore the headstones.
The tombstones toppled because of a combination of the burial techniques of a long-ago era, the siting of the grave on a hillside and frost, said Robert Wilson, general manager of the cemetery.
Before 1940, burial vaults were lined with wood. It decayed over the years, causing the earth above to subside into the vault, undermining the foundation that the tombstone rested upon. Those that were built on hillsides tended to topple forward, Wilson said.
Newer burial vaults do not collapse because they are made of concrete, he said.
The cemetery staff said it no longer has the manpower to repair fallen headstones. Years ago, Wilson said, 75 men were employed full time there. Today there are 11, mainly because power equipment replaced workers.
About 72,000 people are buried in the 205-acre, 122-year-old cemetery. Not all of those people had tombstones.
For instance, Martin Getty, a Civil War veteran who lived from 1826 until 1906 and served with the 178th Pennsylvania Regiment, shared a stone with his wife, Hannah. She died in 1914.
Their stone was constructed of two pieces -- a granite base that had tipped and the marker on top that had toppled. It took five men and a winch to hoist the stone onto the base and put it in place.
Wilson estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 stones have fallen over the years and have not been repaired. This summer, he said, two men were assigned to clean markers. During a two-month period, they were able to reposition 80 fallen markers.
Paul Miller, 33, of Braddock, who is part of the cemetery crew, said he appreciated the help yesterday.
The Mormon project to right the fallen headstones started in the spring, when several members of the church who walk their dogs in the cemetery noticed the toppled markers.
Paul Custer, 29, of Greenfield, president of the church's elders' quorum, said the project was a way to get the men of the church to do volunteer work. He said most of the church's volunteerism is undertaken by women, so this project was a way to reverse that trend.
Yesterday marked the second time the group helped at Homewood Cemetery.
Custer said the group's priority was to stand up those stones whose names could not be seen. After the graves are set in place, he said, they send a postcard to survivors to tell them they can view their relatives' graves again.
One of those markers, a cross 8 inches thick, was buried so deeply that the stone was flush with the grass. Volunteers discovered that the grave was that of a 5-year-old. The back of the cross was etched with the years of the child's life: 1893 to 1898.
Pat Matthews, 53, of Highland Park, Jerry Walker, 26, of Morningside, and Chris Keller, 16, of Morningside, used shovels to dig around the cross and create a new base for it.
Keller pried up the stone with a piece of pipe. Underneath was the start of a name. As the stone started to rise, other members of the group came to help pull it up the rest of the way. The boy's name, Raymond G. Yeager, made its first appearance in years.
"Hello, Raymond," Custer said to the memory of the little boy whose parents, Conrad, 1866-1942, and Mary, 1869-1943, were buried next to him.
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