ST. ALBANS, Vt. (WCAX) – The biggest cemetery in St. Albans got a Memorial Day makeover thanks to a local couple.
On the windy Monday morning, Jessica Roupe and her husband, Chris, worked row by row, scrubbing headstones at Greenwood Cemetery until names appeared.
“I noticed that there were a lot of military graves that are nasty, covered in mold, so we decided to clean them,” Jessica Roupe said.
Roupe, who has two grandfathers who were veterans buried at Greenwood, couldn’t let their headstones and those of other veterans fall to the wayside.
“They served and they don’t have the respect that most of them deserve,” she said. “[It’s] sad because a lot of them are falling off their headstones and everything.”
American flags dot the centuries-old cemetery lawn, marking hundreds of veterans’ graves, some of whom died during combat. The Roupes made it their Memorial Day mission to restore each one.
“For me, it’s in remembrance of veterans who weren’t able to make it home, or may no longer have loved ones around, or have loved ones around that may not know them,” Chris Roupe said.
For those with loved ones who still pay respects, the Roupes say the cleaning is a welcome surprise. One visitor stopped by right as the Roupes were cleaning her loved one’s headstone.
“She’s like, ‘Thank you so much, I appreciate that. It looks so much better.’ She’s like, ‘Not too many people care about veterans,’” Chris Roupe said.
For Jessica Roupe, cleaning the headstones is just as much about remembering her grandfathers as it is helping others to remember– or discover– their own family members.
“Some of them could be in the war and we don’t know it. You can look their name up and learn they could have been in combat, a medic… you never know,” she said.
The Roupes say they hope to tackle a few more cemeteries by the end of the year.