Armed with cleaning solutions, brushes and elbow grease, Kirsten Dodd-Schubert is on an unusual mission to clean grave markers tarnished over time by the elements.

She started cleaning markers in 2014 and formed Tombstone Touch Ups in 2018, a non-profit business that operates as a subsidiary of Wylie Historical Society. She estimates that she has cleaned about 100 stones at cemeteries in the area.

Also, she recently entered into an agreement with Collin and Rockwall counties under which probationers can help clean markers under supervision to complete community service requirements.

“They want to be functioning members of the community,” Dodd-Schubert says of her helpers.

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By Joe Reavis • [email protected]