‘They need your help:’ Volunteer repairs tornado-ravaged cemetery one headstone at a time

By Pepper Purpura

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    PLEASANT HILL, Iowa (KCCI) — A Carlisle man’s passion project is soothing the grief of Pleasant Hill families after a tornado devastated a neighborhood and overturned headstones in Oakwood cemetery.

Kelly Penman Jr. is known online as “The Cemetery Guy” for his unique hobby of fixing up neglected gravesites. After an EF2 tornado tore through Pleasant Hill on April 26, Penman’s followers called on him.

“My social media started to blow up and then private messages saying, ‘They need your help,'” Penman said.

At the site, Penman said much of the damage was from toppled trees, not the heavy winds. While some stones were broken, most were knocked over and needed to be reset, a task that can be difficult since most of the headstones needing repair are hundreds of pounds.

Brent Hall was checking on his family’s gravesite and found his aunt and uncle’s headstone toppled.

“It’s a punch in the gut, just seeing something like that,” Hall said. “Just very devastating to see all the damage that was done.”

Then, Penman approached him, offering to fix the stone. The same day, it was repaired.

Hall said having the stone fixed was “a big relief” to him and everyone with loved ones in the cemetery, especially those who are dealing with storm damage.

“It’s brought a lot of emotion out, and we’re just trying to help them get through that,” Penman said. “(For families with damaged stones) it’s like it happened all over again, the death or the loss. There’s been some tears, and there’s been some hugs, and we just keep trying to help those people get through it.”

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