Helen Wildermuth from Stonehugger Cemetery Restoration Inc. and Mark Davis from Stone Saver Cemetery Restoration were hired to restore some of the stones at Old Union Cemetery. The pair with their crew cleaned, repaired and repositioned some 65 markers in all.

Read more in today's top story. Another picture is in our Community section.

Pictures by Mike Fak

A "before" picture shows how one of the military stones looks.

And after cleaning, the stones look almost new.

A worker uses a rotary nylon brush and water to clean a marker.

A section of GAR veterans' stones that have been restored and repositioned.

The remaining part of the cannon in the section is bright and clean.

The trailers carry all the tools the work crews need.

Some markers had to be taken apart, repositioned and re-mortared to look right.

The ground has shifted over the century, making the work of restorers necessary.

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