Andrew Lumish: ‘The Good Cemeterian’ — Freely Restoring Veteran Headstones
Just when you thought the United States had reached a low point for military vets, Andrew Lumish shows — in a big way — they’re not forgotten.
Lumish has taken it upon himself to honor the United States’ fallen heroes in his own special way and it’s definitely proven to be a great gesture.
It’s relatively easy to disregard tombstone maintenance once it’s in place. However, for Andrew Lumish, it’s not acceptable.
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When interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning, Lumish described the headstones as simply “unrecognizable.”
The issue that disturbed him most was the appearance that these veterans were seemingly “forgotten.”
According to the source, Andrew Lumish has made it a weekly goal to help scrub the veterans’ headstones clean so that visitors can see, recognize, and honor them.
“I couldn’t properly thank them. I couldn’t properly understand who they were…what they were about.”
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Lumish notes that the tombstones were totally black and illegible.
“If they can’t read it at all, they can’t celebrate it. They can’t honor that person. They can’t appreciate that person. Whereas, if you properly restore the monuments, you can get an entire conversation and potentially — in a figurative sense — bring that person back to life.”
And, if you look at the monuments after Lumish has restored them, they practically look new. You can view the video interview below.
As you can see from the video, he’s a cleaning professional who had never worked on headstones prior to those of veterans.
While he didn’t have “tombstone cleaner,” he did develop his own solution, specially created for restoring these veteran monuments.
“I scrub. And I scrub. And I get the edges…and in between the letters and numbers. It could take 20 minutes…it could take two hours.”
CBS Sunday Morning calls his work “stunning.”
And you know what? They’re right.
Once you see before and after footage of these tombstones, it’s a night and day difference.
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According to the source, he restored a monument from 1917, and it looked as if it was created this year.
Nevertheless, while Andrew Lumish could definitely do as many others and enjoy their days off in self-leisure, to him, cleaning veterans’ headstones is “fun.”
“This is more fun for me…hands-down,” says Lumish.
He also noted that, if he could do it seven days a week, 365 days a year, he would do it.
Although he’s usually busy with his many works, he conveniently has a Facebook page called “The Good Cemeterian.”
However, though it’s his page, his posts aren’t about him.
Instead, they’re about the graves he restores. The posts generally include photos of the site as well as the honored veteran’s backstory.
Throughout this article, you’ve seen his works.
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According to the source, Lumish is often thanked by veterans and their families across the United States.
Yet, he doesn’t feel like he deserves “thanks” for his contributions. Rather, he counts it as a duty.
“I am appreciative of it. But I am unworthy of the same respect of someone who chooses the route to go and serve our country. For someone to approach me…to show me that level of respect, it’s humbling to say the least.”
During the interview, Lumish mentions that he’ll get to all the monuments eventually.
Yes. There are thousands of these tombstones in his location — Land O’Lakes, Florida. However, he says he’s going to live a long time.
Likewise, Lumish notes that cleaning these veterans’ headstones is not a big deal when you love doing it. And, as he has mentioned, it’s a fun time for him.
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Overall, what are your thoughts regarding Andrew Lumish and his restoration gestures? Feel free to share your comments in the section below.
[Featured Image by Andrew Lumish/Facebook]
