Need some ZTA Help - Medallions on the Founder's Graves

[elicampbell]

Good Job! I agree with FSUZeta, send this in to Themis.

[ComradesTrue]

Crashing, but just wanted to say what a lovely thing that you did! Although I am not a ZTA, I do think that your membership would love to read about your gesture in your magazine. Who knows? It may lead to getting those other medallions around the country cleaned as well!

Thank you for sharing this.

[ZTABullwinkle]

I am seriously blushing over here. Thank you everyone for your comments. These two graves are located in our area - Hampton Roads, VA (Norfolk to be exact). There are three more Founders buried on the "other side of the water" called the Peninsula. We have finally gotten the names of the cemeteries and directions, so we are planning our trip there. There is one buried about 45 minutes Southwest of Longwood University, one in Henderson, NC and the one in Hawaii.

I tagged our National President (who is an alumna from the same chapter the three of us are from, Iota Sigma) and Foundation President on FB. Slowly the pictures are making their way through FB world. I also have forwarded them to one of our Archives co-chair.

I will talk with the others about submitting it to Themis. We did it because we care for these Founders, and didn't like seeing the medallions so tarnished.

[Gusteau]

This is such a beautiful gesture! Kudos to you ZTABullwinkle!

(I can't believe how shiny you were able to get them - especially the second marker!)

[IrishLake]

How amazing!!! What a wonderful thing to do! Kudos to you!!!! (I can't believe what a lemon and salt will do, holy cow!)

[EtaPhiZTA]

The markers turned out beautiful! I am amazed at what the lemon and salt was able to do. Snaps to you!

[ZTABullwinkle]

Tomorrow, we have plans to visit the three Founders who are buried on the Peninsula, VA. They are Helen Crafford, Alice Bland Coleman and Ethel Lee Coleman Van Name. We have no idea how the medallions are going to look. But we will be sure to take lots of pictures to share.

[FSUZeta]

Yay, ztabullwinkle!!! you all rock! can't wait for the photos.

[ZTABullwinkle]

We made it to three Founders graves on the Peninsula. I have photos that I will post later. Suprisingly, the medallions were in pretty good shape except for Helen Crafford's which was overgrown with grass. We have more work to do at her site.

[ZTABullwinkle]

The first grave we visited on Saturday was Ethel Coleman Van Name. She and Alice Coleman Bland are buried in Gloucester, VA, in the same small cemetery behind a church.

This is the view from the gravel road:



This is the view from straight on:



Here is what the marker looks before any cleaning:



A before picture of the medallion before any cleaning:



Now the after pictures...If you notice a green wire in the close-ups, ignore it. It was the only way we could attach the strawberry and white violet bouquet to the grave. Also, we did try to "seal" the markers after cleaning with a wax recommended online. We plan on going back to see how successful it was.

[ZTABullwinkle]

Just a little ways down the gravel road, we found Alice's marker under a beautiful tree.

Here are the befores:





And the Afters (if these look darker it is because the pictures were taken in the shade):

[ZTABullwinkle]

This was the surprising grave of the day. We were running late. (I had plans for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, so we couldn't spend too much time there. That changed once we found the headstone. There was a gentlemen who was mowing the small graveyard next to this church in Yorktown, VA. He moved on to another area while we worked.)

Before (be prepared...it made our hearts hurt.):





It was very obvious that no one had been here recently. We have plans to go back in the very near future. We cleaned it up as best we could, but didn't have some items we felt we needed to give her marker the full attention it deserves.

Here are the Afters:

[IrishLake]

So incredibly awesome!!!!!!

[ZTABullwinkle]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

So incredibly awesome!!!!!!

Thank you IrishLake! We are the ones who felt honored doing this for our Founders.

[FSUZeta]

dear sister, i can't thank you and your alumnae chapter sisters for being so generous in your time, to do this for our founders. all the medallions looks amazing.