The following is an excerpt from a fascinating article about Pat Rumsey and Pauline Dawes, sisters from Richland, Washington, and their passion for visiting and photographing cemeteries.
… But occasionally the living come to visit. Among them on a recent day were Pat Rumsey and her sister, Pauline Dawes, both of Richland.
“I don’t know why, but we enjoy doing this,” said Dawes, explaining why they’ve spent the past five years searching out remote cemeteries to document and photograph the grave markers.
With digital cameras, a soft-bristle brush and a metal pick handy for cleaning dirt and moss from the engraved writing on headstones, the sisters move quietly and methodically through the cemetery. Row by row, each grave photographed for posterity.
…
Over the course of five years, the sisters have logged information and photographed 80 cemeteries. They’ve filed an estimated 13,000 pictures of grave sites with online websites specializing in genealogical data.
Some of their work can be found at www.usgwarchives.com. Follow the links to Oregon or Washington tables of contents. Selecting a county and going to a link for Tombstone Project will provide a list of names and photos of grave markers.
Read the full article in the October 25, 2009 edition of the Tacoma News Tribune.
