Wow, this really is a problem:
YEAR 2000 POSES GRAVE PROBLEM FOR HEADSTONE CUTTERS
Associated Press
May 18, 1998
BARRE, Vt. -- There has been plenty of
talk about the problems computers will face
when the calendar hits the year 2000. But
what about gravestones?
Scattered throughout cemeteries across the
country are headstones that have already
had the first two digits of the year of death,
"19," set in stone. The headstones await the
arrival of forward-thinking people who got
a jump on their own death dates, often
ordering the carving at the time of a
spouse's death.
But those folks might be outdone by their
own foresight--and longevity.
Sandblaster Charles Day, who spends
much of his time during the warm months
adding dates to headstones in Vermont
cemeteries, pondered the problem last
week in Barre's Hope Cemetery.
He was looking at the headstone awaiting
the final digits of the year of death for a
woman born in 1904.
"There is no good way out," he said.
Actuarial tables give the 94-year-old
woman a 62.5 percent chance of still being
alive on Jan. 1, 2000. Her spouse, born in
1900, died in 1961. Presumably, she had
her name and "19" carved that year.
"I don't know that that far back people
were thinking that far ahead," Day said.
Although they say you can't change
something written in stone, it turns out that
granite cutters can. There are a couple of
techniques that can be used to correct the
Grave2K problem.
Day said he would grind up some granite
and make a paste using clear epoxy that
would be put into the hole. Once the
mixture dried it would be sanded smooth
and then the new numbers would be
sandblasted in.
There are other methods. But whatever
technique is used will leave a scar or a tiny
shadow that will show, especially when the
stone gets wet. For some family members,
that might not be good enough.
Unlike their counterparts in the computer
industry, people in the monument business
have been aware of the graves 2000
problem for decades.
Joe Calcagni of the Granite Corp. of Barre
said he's thought about the problem since
1951, when he first started cutting granite.
"You see the drawing come through with a
birth date similar to yours and you think,
'What the hell are they doing,' " said
Calcagni, 64. "You don't tell your customer,
'Don't do that.' "
Louis LaCroix of Rock of Ages Corp. said
that in the mid-1970s he frequently had to
persuade people not to etch a 19 into the
stone.
While labor costs might go up before you're
ready to cash in your chips, "it doesn't cost
much more to put four numbers on instead
of two," LaCroix said.
Although erasing the 19 and renumbering a
stone will cost more, the whole thing should
still cost less than $200, Day said. |
