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Volunteers spend Patriot Day cleaning headstones at Quincy National Cemetery

September 12, 2025

Muddy River News

By: Michele McCormack

QUINCY, Ill. (Newsbreak) — It was around ten in the morning, and the grass was still wet with dew and glistening in the sunlight.

Sounds of traffic could be heard in the background, with a mix of chirping of birds and the sounds of gentle scrubbing.

About a dozen volunteers spent their morning gently brushing veteran headstones at the Quincy National Cemetery, 3701 Maine Street.

Some were on their knees. At first, it looked like they were praying. Until you looked closer and saw the brush in their hands and the buckets at the sides.

“It’s an honor,” Bobette Cawthon of Quincy told Muddy River News. “This is my first time doing this. We are only using water and a soft-bristle brush. We are cleaning every stone, scrubbing it down. These people gave their lives for us, and freedom is something that, in America, we all can appreciate. If it wasn’t for the people here, we wouldn’t have that right.”

Cawthon was part of a group of volunteers representing the Capital Area Association of Realtors, or CAAR.

Although it was a mix of folks who answered the call.

Another group from Home Depot saw a social media post for help and brought some extra pairs of hands and plenty of buckets.

“A big part of our values is giving back,” Gary O’Dell from Home Depot explained. “It’s the least we can do to come out here and honor the fallen soldiers on this day of remembrance, Patriot Day for 9/11. It’s a day we really like to honor and serve our veterans in the community.”

The cleaning started several years ago, with just a couple of volunteers. The number of folks who turn out can ebb and flow through the years.

One of the main organizers is Vietnam Veteran and former Administrator of the Illinois Veterans Home, Ron Frillman, who now serves as a veteran issues coordinator for Congresswoman Mary Miller.

“It’s paying respect to my brothers and sisters who are out here,” he said as he touched his hand to his heart. “I wish the community would be more involved. The flag that flies here represents all the people who sacrificed for the freedoms we have today.”

In December, they will lay wreaths at the headstones through the Wreaths Across America project. It has its own website for people who would be interested in lending their support.

“It’s the least we can do to honor our freedom,” Frillman added. A common refrain among the volunteers who endured an early surge of heat to get their work done by the time the American Legion served up a lunch as a thank you.

Frillman also credits the non-profit “Carry the Load” for organizing the headstone clean-up. The supplies are provided, and there is a supervisor on hand to give instructions about how to clean without damaging the stone.

Realtor Jeremy Farlow answered the request from the Commander of American Legion Post 37, Barbara Fletcher, and pointed out how it’s a wide variety of people who came out to start their Patriot Day this way, with a singular gesture of humble service through cleaning.

“Realtors, bankers, we’re just cleaning the stones the best we can. Just keep them looking nice. I enjoy helping. I didn’t have anything else to do this morning that was more important. It makes you think a lot about the people who have gone before us and what they sacrificed.”

Congress established Patriot Day in December 2001 to serve as a day of remembrance to honor the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York, The Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the passengers aboard United Flight 93 who fought back against the Al-Qaeda linked hijackers and crashed the plane during a struggle in Shanksville, PA. It also recognizes the heroism of the first responders and survivors.

Each year, there is a Presidential Proclamation, which assigns Patriot Day as a National Day of Service and Remembrance, which calls for civic ceremonies and flags to be flown at half-staff.

Watch the story here.

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