When I retired, my desire was to find volunteer work that I could do outdoors, by myself, and on my own schedule. In my search for opportunities, I came across Find a Grave and was entranced with what I could find on the site about family members and friends from the past. Whoever started this site is to be commended, as it helps answer questions that some people have and provides closure for others, in addition to preserving history.
I initially only visited/photographed cemeteries where family members were buried or to those that were near me and had photo requests. However, I recently became aware that our local state mental hospital had a cemetery and that the graves had only been minimally photographed. I had an interest in the state hospital because I had a rotation there as a nursing student in the 1970's and was made aware of the care provided to mentally-challenged. It seemed fitting that all these years later that I help to fulfill photographing. I was surprised to find that most graves had initially only been marked with numbers. However, a group called "Restoring Dignity - from Numbers to Names" did the research and had markers added to every grave back in 2016. Kudos to them!

When I retired, my desire was to find volunteer work that I could do outdoors, by myself, and on my own schedule. In my search for opportunities, I came across Find a Grave and was entranced with what I could find on the site about family members and friends from the past. Whoever started this site is to be commended, as it helps answer questions that some people have and provides closure for others, in addition to preserving history.
I initially only visited/photographed cemeteries where family members were buried or to those that were near me and had photo requests. However, I recently became aware that our local state mental hospital had a cemetery and that the graves had only been minimally photographed. I had an interest in the state hospital because I had a rotation there as a nursing student in the 1970's and was made aware of the care provided to mentally-challenged. It seemed fitting that all these years later that I help to fulfill photographing. I was surprised to find that most graves had initially only been marked with numbers. However, a group called "Restoring Dignity - from Numbers to Names" did the research and had markers added to every grave back in 2016. Kudos to them!