07/14/2026
Mary Young is offering her expert headstone cleaning skills for free over the next year. In a project funded by the Ashland Monument Company, Mary will be cleaning headstones at the Ashland Cemetery, at no cost to any families. However, in order to do so, she requires permission from the descendants.
If your ancestor is buried in the Ashland Cemetery and their headstone needs cleaning, reach out to ACHS to complete the required request form. Before you complete the form, please note the following:
- Headstones must have death dates prior to 1900.
- Stones must be under 5ft tall.
- The signatory giving permission must be a direct descendant of the person buried in the associated grave.
- Limit 2 stones per family will be considered. The decision whether to accept or decline the headstone cleaning is solely at Mary Young’s discretion. She reserves the right to accept or decline to clean a stone for size or condition.
- Mary will clean headstones as she is available and may not be able to accommodate all headstones requested in a year.
-https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/ZM3V8j5VnA
Mary Young is a resident of the Ashland, OH area. She is a retired nurse who took a great interest in gravestone cleaning and restoration after caring for family tombstones in NY state. Mary has volunteered her time to multiple cemeteries at her own expense. Since 2021, Mary Young has cleaned 445 gravestones and cenotaphs in Ohio and western NY. Locally, Mary has cleaned many headstones in the Ashland Cemetery with permission by the Ashland Cemetery Association. Mary has taken classes on repairing stones through the 48 State Tour sponsored by Atlas Preservation. In 2025 and 2026, she taught classes on cleaning gravestones at Ashland Public Library, the Ashland Cemetery, and Marvin Memorial Library in Shelby, OH.
Throughout 2026, Mary’s historic headstone cleaning will be focused in the Ashland Cemetery as well as in her hometown of Little Valley, NY – projects made possible in part through funding from Ashland Monument Company and the Little Valley Fund. For her, this is an honor and joy to connect those from the past to those in the future by doing grave preservation.
