Sisters open graveyard business

PARKERSBURG - A labor of love for two sisters has opened the door to a new business.

In May, Donna Davis and Jan Allen formed the Caretaker's Daughter, a gravestone cleaning and adornment company in Parkersburg.

The business offers gravestone cleaning services as well as creating flower arrangements for each gravesite. Their clients are people who cannot regularly care for the grave of their loved ones, whether they are not physically able or they live outside the area and cannot make it back regularly to tend to them.

The idea for the business started with a family tradition the sisters continue to carry on to this day.

For three generations the Clinton family has seen to the care and upkeep of their relative's gravesites, cleaning and preserving gravestones regularly, Davis said.

''Our grandparents tended to the gravesites of both family members and friends,'' she said. ''Grandmother would load the trunk of the car with flowers for so many graves it would take hours to place them.

''After our grandparents passed away, it was natural that our parents continued the tradition of caring for the resting places of our loved ones.''

After their father passed away and their mother had gotten to the age when she couldn't do it anymore, the two sisters thought it would be fitting that they should be caring for the graves, Allen said.

The two were walking through their father's cemetery recently and noticed many graves held markers of the deceased as well as a spouse who was still alive. The two wondered how the elderly spouse and the grown children, who may have moved out of the area, were able to still maintain the gravesites.

''Donna was looking at the other grave sites and some of them did not have flowers,'' Allen said. ''Donna said it would be a great idea for a business.

''We had been doing it, we just didn't think about offering the service to others. That's when the idea of forming a gravestone cleaning and adornment business formed. I don't know why the concept didn't jump out at us a long time ago.''

Allen handles the cleaning and preservation process while Davis assembles bouquets and keep records.

The care and preservation of gravestones is not rocket science, but people can make some easy mistakes in using the wrong cleaning chemicals which can cause rapid decay of stones, Allen said. Most household cleaners, used continually, will erode and decay stone.

''Many people think that scrubbing gravestones with household cleansers will do the trick,''she said. ''They could not be further from the truth. Household cleaners can and do harm most types of stone.

''There are different types of stones. Each type of stone requires a different procedure for care. We have learned how to do that.''

They emphasize to their customers they are into the preservation of the stones, not the renovation or reconstruction.

''If you have a 200-300-year-old stone, you don't want to restore it,'' Allen said. ''Any national cemetery organization will tell you do not try to restore a stone. You don't want a stone to look brand new. The stone's distinction comes with the age, the elegance and tradition of the stone, but people need to maintain it without eroding or corroding it.''

But their services don't stop there.

They also produce seasonal silk flower arrangements, designed with the client's preferences in mind and then delivered to the gravesite. Flowers can be arranged in be put in vases at the gravesite or saddles which can adorn the gravestone itself.

The company offers a variety of "Care Plans" to satisfy the needs of their customers.