Caretaker with passion for history cleans, restores veterans' headstones at North Huntingdon cemetery

It's a labor of love at a Westmoreland County cemetery. One by one, a man is restoring headstones, many of them veterans from the Revolutionary and Civil wars.On most days, you'll find William Bray at the historic Brush Creek Reformed Presbyterian Cemetery in North Huntingdon. His passion and patriotism have fueled his mission."It's just a way of learning history," cemetery sexton/caretaker William Bray said. "The stones that fell over, I researched them, and I have gotten new stones for the Civil War veterans and I'll be working on the Revolutionary War veterans."Bray cleans and resets the stones, restoring them to their glory. He said it's "my way of paying back to the veterans who are buried here and their families.""The big problem is the fact that the stones, many of which were fallen over or just worn with weather, needed to be repaired, and it was through a weather incident that Bill got involved," said Carl Huszar, president of the Norwin Historical Society.In all, about 100 stones need attention."I actually spent last Fourth of July up here repairing the flag holders on all the veterans' graves, because the wind catches them and they start wobbling on the sticks," Bray said.He is more than happy to accept the call for care."A lot of small cemeteries like this are forgotten about and not paid attention to, and they're not forgotten," Bray said."Bill has been a godsend to the cemetery," Huszar said.Bray's goal is to have at least 20 headstones reset by Memorial Day. He has also started a "sponsor a stone" program for donations to defray the cost of the materials.Checks can be sent to: Friends of the Old Brush Creek Cemetery90 Raymaley Rd.Harrison City, PA 15636