Harry Bosworth strapped on a leaf blower Sunday and took to cleaning the steep hills of the 10-acre Olive Hill Cemetery his family has owned for more than a century northwest of Geyserville.
Although Bosworth and members of his extended family have hit the hill for decades on the day before Memorial Day, in previous years they have used nothing more than straw brooms, pitch forks and more than a little bit of grit to weed, clear and spruce up hundreds of graves and headstones in the historic cemetery.
"I have three great-grandfathers out here," Bosworth said of the plots set under towering oaks. "Their whole lifestyle was work. It was a sin not to. I probably don't have a choice."
About 20 people, most decked out in their gray "Grim Sweepers" T-shirts, worked from 9 a.m. into the evening, only taking a break for a group lunch in town.
Weed cutters, pitchforks, rakes and straw brooms were strewn about the landscape and propped against massive pickup trucks as pairs of sweaty volunteers tackled piles of prickly oak leaves.
Sunday marked the first time friend and work-day regular Laura Cinollo could remember Bosworth using a leaf blower instead of a more traditional tool. For years, she said, she was the only one who even used a wheelbarrow.
But an upgrade in tool technology took nothing away from the toil and sweat poured out by the extended Bosworth family as well as the wider community who have made the clean up a tradition in Geyserville.
Romana Behrens and her husband Larry were first timers Sunday. She knew many of the people whose final resting place she cleared.
"I thought it was very emotional. It was rewarding," she said. "I'm sure we'll all end up here."
Since Cinollo's dad was buried in 1982 and later her brother, she has been chipping in a full day's work alongside the Bosworth clan. Although she now lives in Santa Rosa, she has Geyserville roots.
"It's a family deal. I love Harry and Karen," she said. "I don't like cemeteries, per se. But I just love it up here."
Harry and Karen Bosworth's daughter, Gretchen Crebs, has been spending her pre-Memorial Day Sunday on the family land for as long as she can remember. This year her 11-year-old daughter, Amy, worked steadily through the midday heat.
"It's part of what is expected of the family, but it's also the right thing to do," Crebs said.
When she first started working on the cleanup days, she said, the environs were so overgrown people found graves no one knew were there.
Today, the regular upkeep is better, so the work is not overwhelming. It also makes a difference when scores of people come to the cemetery for a military service replete with 21-gun salute.
"The ceremony is beautiful, and I do think that many people lose track of what the holiday is about," Crebs said. "It's not about barbecues or going out on the lake.
"It's about saying thank you to all veterans for their service and remembering what people have done for our freedom."
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