St. Louisan helps with cemetery restoration

~ Work at Cape Girardeau's oldest cemetery has been complicated by vandalism.

City workers responsible for repairing and restoring the grave markers at Old Lorimier Cemetery received a lesson Thursday in the latest techniques.

John Maurath of St. Louis brought a portable generator, cleaners and glues designed for stonework to Cape Girardeau's oldest cemetery. The daunting job, made tougher by the late October vandalism that toppled 69 headstones, aims to bring a renaissance to the graveyard founded in 1808.

The cost of that damage is estimated to be between $40,000 and $60,000. Private donors have stepped forward, pledging aid to both pay for repairs and to establish a $2,000 reward for information leading to conviction of the vandals.

The first headstone receiving a treatment yielded a name, Cread Taylor, who had not been catalogued by cemetery caretakers. Taylor, who died in 1882 at age 53, now has a marker that gleams as white as it did when the grave was new.

Maurath, who works under the name Tombstone Restoration Services, donated his time Thursday. After resetting the pieces of shattered stone, Maurath used a nylon brush to wipe away years of dirt and lichen growth.

The epoxy he used, Maurath said, helps bind the stone without damaging it. "The stuff used before was so hard," he said. "With this, hopefully if it is attacked again, it will break in the same spot and not create a new break."

Working to maintain and restore gravemarkers, Maurath said, grows out of an appreciation of history.

"This cemetery is like a handshake across time," he said.

Old Lorimier Cemetery was final resting place to Cape Girardeau founder Louis Lorimier and his wife, Charlotte. It is also the burial ground for rich and poor from the city's past, including railroad magnate Louis Houck, who Maurath cites as an inspiration for his work.

"The culture, refinement, and in fact civilization of a people are measured by the respect paid its honored and distinguished dead," Houck said in 1896. The passage leads the opening page of Maurath's binder showing his work.

Old Lorimier Cemetery in September was named to the National Register of Historic Places. That means a special effort must be made to preserve it, said Terrell Weaver, manager of the city's public cemeteries.

Weaver and his crew watched Maurath's work to help understand how his repairs differ from their own. "We are game for anything that will help us learn this a better way," Weaver said.

The long-term effort to restore grave markers will continue to reveal Cape Girardeau's past, said Terri Foley, a historic preservation consultant on hand to watch Maurath's work.

"It is the history book of this town," she said.

Donations to help restore the headstones can be made to the city Parks and Recreation Department's Old Lorimier Preservation Fund. Anyone with information about the vandalism can call CrimeStoppers at 332-0500.