It was a beautiful and slightly chilly early spring day. Dr. Erin McGuire, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, guided about a dozen students and other volunteers in the best ways of cleaning the gravestones.

The graves that were cleaned were: Isador Braverman, Mark Krasnick, Joseph Vince, Mary Gray, Marker stone for Judge Samuel Davies Schultz, Isaac Gershon Alexandor, Charles Freedman, Harry Comm and Kalman Solomon.

The results:

The cleaning of Gabriel Seelig’s grave began on April 20, 2024 and was completed on June 30, 2024. A number of people helped Amber Woods clean this monument including Andy Muchin, Janis Silver, and Daniel Barer.

The first cleaning bee of 2024 took place on Sunday April 20. Although the weather had been iffy all morning, the afternoon was a perfect temperature for cleaning.

Dr. Erin McGuire, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, guided about a dozen students and other volunteers in the best ways of cleaning the gravestones. The graves that were cleaned were:

Busy cleaning!

The results:

A smaller, but mighty crew of dedicated students and a couple of elders gathered with Prof. Erin McGuire at the cemetery to clean more headstones.

After having been treated with D-2 on October 24 the stones for Grace Meiss and Rebecca Harris are looking cleaner.

D-2 was applied to the headstone for Jack Levy and Sam Levy without prior cleaning.

The headstones which were cleaned were; Adolph Lancaster, Naomi Adelstein, Louis Adelstein, Istvan Bertalan and Solomon Shaw.

After the cleaning as dusk begins to gather.

Under the direction of Professor Erin McGuire, a handful of students from last semester’s class and a few other people came to the cemetery to clean headstones along the main pathway.

The first step is to clean the graves with a little soapy water and a lot of elbow grease. Then the chemical D-2 would be applied. D-2 is a cleaning product designed to remove harmful bacteria and pollutants which stain stonework. As a test to see how well the product works after one application, a face on the top of Joseph Davies grave was treated. D-2 was sprayed on and left to work. Three graves were treated with D-2; Enrica Glickman, Grace Meiss, and Rebecca Harris.

The headstones for Mary Brill, Martha Elkan, Frances Shaw, Joy Montague, Patricia Montague, Charles Rapp and Samuel Ruskin were cleaned with soap and water and will be treated with D-2 at a later date. The following images were taken by Leah Freedman.

Busy at cleaning:

Before and After:

A couple who would like to remain anonymous joined Amber Woods after they had done some gardening at the Zachor Wall to complete the cleaning of Isador Braverman’s grave.

Shoshana Litman and Laura Rosenberg joined Amber Woods in cleaning the grave of Isador Braverman. Laura and Shoshana worked on the headstone before moving onto the tiled surface. Amber focused on the tiles.