"I've always had a love of history and old cemeteries," Cindy Meyer says with a smile. "Whenever my husband, Brett, and I travel-especially if we're in older historic cities like Savannah-I love wandering through the cemeteries and reading the inscriptions on the beautiful headstones."

There is a sense of reverence in Cindy's voice when she talks about cemeteries, an attitude that this Pennsylvania native shared with her father. "When my mom passed away in 2013, my dad bought her a beautiful headstone," she recalls. "He took such loving care of it, always making sure there were flowers there, especially on holidays. It was so important to Dad that Mom not be forgotten."

Though Cindy loved history and visiting historic cemeteries, her career had nothing to do with those interests. "I spent 14 years working in law firms and 11 years as a transcriptionist with the police department," she explains. "Police work was stressful. Even though I wasn't on the streets with the officers, as a transcriptionist, I heard about everything." With retirement approaching, Cindy was determined to take a totally different career path. "I wanted to be excited about going to work," she says. "I wanted to do something that was positive and meaningful to people."

In August 2021, Cindy's father died suddenly from a heart attack. As he was being laid to rest, Cindy remembered something he always asked of her: "When I am gone, please keep your mom's headstone clean."

"That made me start thinking," Cindy explains. "I realized that was what I could do for people! When their loved ones' headstones have turned black from mold, algae, and lichens so that no one can read the beautiful inscriptions anymore, I could clean and help preserve them."

Determined to learn everything she could about the correct care of headstones, Cindy found a headstone restoration class at St. Luke's Historic Church & Museum in Smithfield-the oldest brick church in British North America. Because St. Luke's expansive cemetery has stones dating back 400 years, its classes offer training on properly cleaning and preserving headstones and monuments. Cindy also spent countless hours on national preservation sites, researching the correct way to clean headstones.

With the proper training accessible, Cindy shared her idea for a new business with her husband, Brett, the vice president of a software company in Chesapeake. "I've always known she loves going to cemeteries," Brett admits. "When she brought up the program at St. Luke's and the idea of cleaning headstones as a business, I did some research and got on board."

"It's amazing how everything came together," Cindy says. "I'm so excited to have a business that combines my love of cemeteries and my desire to keep my family's headstones clean with helping others keep the memories of their loved ones alive. In memory of my mom, whose name was Rose, I named our business Forever Rose. We clean and preserve headstones, primarily in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, but if families need headstones cleaned in other areas, I encourage them to call."

Over time, the elements and biological growth dull and obscure the beauty of a headstone, eventually turning it black. Forever Rose can reverse much of that process and help preserve the stone.

"We remove all debris from the stone and engraving," Cindy explains, "and soft wash the stone by hand, using a gentle, eco-friendly, PH-neutral soap that removes the initial layers of dirt, algae, lichen, and moss. Once the stone is clean, we spray it with a biological solution approved by the National Cemetery Administration and soft wash it by hand a second time. A final application of the biological solution is then applied, which will continue drawing biological matter out of the stone's pores so that it will look even better as time goes by."

"No one should ever power-wash or use bleach on a headstone," Brett adds. "Headstones are porous and will absorb bleach, which will eventually eat away at them. Power-washing chips away at the granite. We only use all-natural soft bristle brushes-never metal or plastic."

"We have a do-no-harm policy," Cindy points out. "If we see any cracks or damage on the stone, we stop immediately, take photos, and call the client before continuing."

"When cleaning military headstones, we follow the National Cemetery Administration's protocol, which is used to keep the headstones in Arlington and Gettysburg so white," Brett explains. "And we don't charge for cleaning military headstones. If the VA provided the stone, then cleaning is always free."

Forever Rose uses a different cleaning and preservation technique on bronze markers. "The bronze has a protective clear coat on it-just like a bright red Corvette," Cindy shares. "Just like on a car, from time to time, you would apply a coat of wax to protect it. The clear coat wears off over time. Exposed to the elements, the metal will oxidize. Before it gets into that condition, we will clean the bronze and apply two coats of wax to protect it from damage."

Experts recommend cleaning headstones every three to five years and waxing bronze markers once a year. "Because of the solutions we use, we can only clean stones when temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees, typically from March through November," Brett notes. "If you contact us during the winter months, we'll schedule your services as soon as possible once spring temperatures return."
 

"People can call me days, nights, and weekends," Cindy smiles. "If someone thinking of cleaning their loved one's stone asks me to come out, look at the gravesite, and give them my advice-I'll do it. If you call me to clean your loved one's stone, it will be me doing the cleaning. I know what a personal matter this is. They want their loved one to have a beautiful and respectful final resting place. I will care for that headstone like I would if it were my family's.

"This work is all very personal for me," Cindy concludes. "I want every headstone in every cemetery to be clean and well-kept. After all, these are the final resting places of our loved ones."