For the past five years a worthwhile project at the historic Humble Cemetery has been the focus of local charity and now some of the work is complete. But Connie Grubbs of the Humble Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution says there’s still a lot to be done.
Grubbs, who has served as historic preservation chair since being sworn in as chapter regent in 2017, encouraged her chapter to embrace the project located on S. Houston Ave in Humble.
“Over the past five years, we have worked to reset many of the smaller headstones and cleaned up the headstones that were stable and not in danger of falling over and injuring someone,” she said.
With matching funds provided by the City of Humble, the club also applied for and received a $10,000 grant from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution this spring.
With this combined amount of $20,000, they were able to hire Texas Cemetery Restoration, LLC to come and reset approximately 60 headstones.
“Due to weather conditions and the extent of damage to a few of the headstones, it took them five weeks to complete the job,” she said. “There is still a lot of work to be done and we will continue to work until all headstones that need to be repaired or reset are restored,” she added.
Grubbs was elected to her position at DAR in January 2017 and knew immediately that she wanted to dedicate her time to leading a preservation project.
The chapter had already obtained a Texas historical marker for the cemetery in 1992 and decided to continue this project by repairing, cleaning and preserving many fallen and broken or bent headstones.
“If you’ve never seen him, he’s in a sorry state,” she described.
When the cemetery was in poor condition, several years ago the city took over the property and began maintaining the lawn, a welcome aid to the appearance of the property.
Grubbs and her band of fearless ladies were probably unaware of the painstaking work ahead of them, but their indomitable spirits would not be deterred.
After attending a workshop in February that taught them how to do cemetery work, they rolled up their sleeves and got down to business in earnest.
“Some of these stones weigh a few hundred pounds,” she said, prompting her husband and other men to help lift heavy objects. The smaller ones, the ladies were able to lift and relevel. There was scrubbing and cleaning of stones, many of which had decades of dirt and damage.
In the fall of 2018, the company they attended the workshop went to the cemetery, took photos and gave the DAR an estimate of $43,000 to do the work on the heavier stones. by cleaning, replacing and repairing damage.
“It was completely out of our budget,” Grubbs said, “and so we started fundraising.”
When Tropical Storm Harvey swept through the area, it immediately halted all work except what the ladies could manage to do on their own. Then the COVID pandemic hit, and it looked like the project was going to be delayed indefinitely. The February freeze halted all work at the cemetery, and when Humble’s new mayor was elected, Grubbs said he pledged $10,000 to the project.
With these funds, she was able to apply for a matching fund grant and in March learned that they had made the first selection of fundraising contestants. In May, they celebrated the news of receiving the funds by calling the company they had contracted with to come forward and start work.
“They’ve finished resetting about 60 of them,” she said, and the improvement is noticeable. We still have a long way to go because there are probably several hundred of them.
The work was carried out over a period of five weeks, including a major rainstorm which occurred in the middle of the task.
Recent workdays have been delayed by extreme heat.
“He’s been there for years and isn’t going anywhere. I’m not going to ask our ladies to go out there in this heat and risk their health,” she said.
A tornado passed through the area months ago and destroyed a building across the street, but fortune smiled on the ladies and their project, and no damage was done to the cemetery.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done,” Grubbs said of his ladies and other volunteers.
The private cemetery fell into disarray when the council set up to care for it had all died.
“It sat in limbo for years until the town of Humble took over,” she said.
Grubbs said she appreciates the city allowing the group to continue their charitable work.
Once the weather returns to a more comfortable state, Grubbs said they will return to the project and continue their work.
In the five years they have been working at the cemetery, they have noticed that a few stones have fallen.
“There’s not much we can do about it until we’re ready for restoration,” she said. “They’re on the ground and they’ll be safe there until they can be fixed.”
By cleaning several stones themselves, they saved several thousand dollars on the total cost but an additional $20,000 will be needed to complete the project.
The once public family cemetery will continue to need volunteers and additional funds to carry out the project.
To help fund the project, visit their website at https://www.texasdar.org/chapters/JamesTull.
“The James Tull Chapter, NSDAR would like to thank the Town of Humble and the NSDAR for their assistance in enabling us to continue our project,” Grubbs said.
