Full-time cemetery conservator and local historian dedicated to the restoration, repair, cleaning, documentation, research, and advocacy of historic memorials and cemeteries in the Central Texas area, with a primary focus in a pro-bono capacity on historic Black cemeteries. Passionate about digital equity and free community access to historic records.

Currently contracted for the conservation and documentation of monuments in Round Rock Cemetery and Slave Cemetery.

Member at large, Hopewell Cemetery Board of Directors. Happy to accept transfers of any memorials in these cemeteries to aid in my research and documentation of the graves and their treatment processes.

I'm a first-generation native Texan and Pflugerville/Round Rock TX local, (most recently Manchaca TX) but my ancestry/interests take me virtually and physically all over the world. I always obtain permission either from the city, cemetery president or board, sexton/caretaker, or family members/descendants before I work on monuments.

If you learn one thing from my novel of a profile, let it be this:

NEVER use bleach, pressure washers, dish soap, vinegar or any household cleaners, household epoxies/glues, silicones, caulk, cement/concrete or Portland cement-based mortars to clean or repair headstones. To do so would be causing extensive and irreversible damage, even if it doesn't seem that way at first. If you can buy it at your local hardware store, you should not be using it to repair historic headstones.

Please do not move stones in cemeteries for any reason, no matter how insignificant they may seem, and even if they don't seem like a grave marker. Unmarked field stones are a common grave marker in historic Black cemeteries, and by moving them, you could be responsible for losing someone's final resting place forever.

∼Now for the other side of preservation work I do; research, records, and photos!

If you have messaged me asking for a transfer of a memorial and I have not transferred or responded, I am not ignoring you– please send another message to me via the "send message" button at the top of my profile. I have email notifications muted for FindAGrave as I send hundreds of suggested edits each month. If you try to contact me by clicking the "contact manager" button attached to a memorial that I manage, these messages are unfortunately only sent to email, and do not show up in the internal FG messaging system, meaning that l often do not see these messages for a while as they get buried in all the other FG emails. I know that you're supposed to use the contact manager button when requesting a transfer, so go ahead and do that, but please also shoot me a quick message via the "send message" button on my profile, and I'll actually see your message and get it transferred to you much faster. Please speak kindly. Unnecessarily hostile messages will be ignored.

• I try my absolute best to have accurate information on memorials I manage and in suggestions I submit. However, I am statistically bound to make mistakes, oftentimes because I am moving too quickly. I would much rather know about the mistake than have the wrong information be public. I welcome corrections, but please be kind and assume positive intent.

• I don't give a single damn about my "stats" in any of the categories, that is not why I do this. I care about correct info, filling in every available field, and quality photos- putting a face to every name.

• With that being said, unfortunately other users DO put a lot of stock into my stats, particularly the "Member For" field at the top of my profile. I was previously sharing an account with a family member for many years. I transferred many memorials over when I made my own account as I got more serious about cemetery preservation, which contributes to why my "memorials managed" and "memorials created" number has a gap. In addition, ever since FG has started releasing memorials for inactive members of over a year, I have been picking up many of the abandoned memorials in historic Black cemeteries in my area to research them.

My stance on some controversial FindAGrave practices:

• Pro-posting of death certificates, they're a historical record and provide "proof" of where someone is buried if they don't have a marker. If I am making the claim that someone is buried somewhere, I understand that it is my responsibility to cite my sources. The death certificates I post usually have death info covered out of respect. If you would like to see a copy of a death certificate I posted without the death info covered, feel free to reach out.

• I sometimes add pre-need markers. I have personally seen that when you don't add them and they do eventually pass away, oftentimes gravers don't notice the new inscription (or, oftentimes the DOD isn't ever added) and this can lead to their memorial never being added to the cemetery. Cemetery surveys before the existence of this website would include these in their records, but I understand why many are against it though and will remove upon request.

• Pro-"unknown burials" if every effort has been taken to find their resting place. I don't often utilize this feature myself- if I did, it means that I have exhausted every resource available to me at that time trying to find their final resting place. I see it as a request to the world for any information on where they may be buried. The main reason I utilize this feature is to be able to link known siblings memorials in the "siblings" column to each other when I have no record of their parent(s) burial location. This approach has worked for me multiple times, as I have had relatives that aren't big Find A Grave users themselves reach out to me to tell me where someone is buried after seeing my request for information.

• Pro obituaries in the bio- obituaries, by nature, are quite literally a public announcement of a death and a record of life lived/family members. Why wouldn't it belong with their virtual memorial? If they passed after 2012, it's incredibly easy to find the obituary online anyways. I do understand (but don't necessarily implement it myself) modifying obituaries to protect living family's identity.

• I don't gatekeep memorials from their relatives (or friends!) within any degree of relation, and you should probably reevaluate your motive behind doing this work if you feel it necessary to "own" a stranger's virtual memorial.

I am more than happy to transfer management of memorials for people that I am not related to. I see myself as a "temporary guardian" of these memorials, just caring for them while awaiting their actual relatives to find out about FindAGrave and make their own account. I also don't make people jump through hoops to "prove" their relationships- I don't care about you being "within four generations" or even if you're related to them at all- if you personally knew someone (a friend, coworker, classmate etc) relatives (even distant) and/or people that knew them personally are the best stewards of their memory in my opinion, and are more qualified to manage their memorial than me, a stranger, so just ask!

I usually notate my relative status on the memorials of my relatives, however I have the issue of being from a long line of Catholic farming families, so I've simply run out of the allotted relative designation labels at this point. The majority of my family descends from the Chicago area, Kansas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. If there is no relation status on a memorial I manage or no note in their bio, then I am likely not related to that person. Ask away!

I do not need credit for any grave photos. (Most) gravesites are open for the public to view with their eyes, all I did was happen to have a cell phone camera when I was in close proximity to a grave.

Only thing I ask is that you properly save the image by clicking "view original" and saving the image file to your phone or computer, instead of taking a screenshot or a screen capture. Screenshots destroy the image quality and the people that you're trying to share the image with won't get the full effect of the image. I'm passionate about HIGH QUALITY images using the highest possible dpi (for my own scans) and feel that everyone deserves a face to their name!

Full transparency, I have a knack for finding information and photos via unconventional yet public sources of information, including social media. As I said, I feel everyone deserves a face to that name accompanied by 2 dates written on a stone. If that bothers you, please message me and I can take it down.