Quoting from findagrave.com regarding . . .
How do I clean a headstone or grave marker?
Unless you are related to the interred on the headstone in question, DO NOT do anything to the headstone.
Gravestones should never be cleaned with anything but water and a soft brush. Slate gravestones from the Revolutionary era and Pre-revolutionary era are best left alone due to their delicate nature and tendency to erode.
Never apply bleach, ammonia, shaving cream, chalk, flour, baking soda, cornstarch, firm pressure or use anything abrasive.
On this date in our family history . . . the 7th day of September . . . in the year 1964 . . . Emma Patience Muston nee Nettles dies in Rockdale, Milam County . . . in the family photo in this collage, Emma is standing between her daughter, Ima Lois Pounders nee Muston (1906-1999), and Ima's son, Forrest Lee Pounders (1926-1996) . . .
Forrest Lee -- aka Fuzzy -- is my dear Dad, and Ima is the grandma who lived right next door during my entire childhood . . . Ima never learned to drive (though I do have memories of my Dad trying to teach her), and she was widowed in 1957 . . . on Sunday afternoons (after church) we (being the entire family of Mom and Dad and us three girls) frequently took Grandma to Lexington to visit her mother, Emma, and other family members . . .
Emma and Ima and Fuzzy are all at rest in this little country cemetery, as well as Emma's parents, Joseph Helidorah Nettles (1832-1890) and Mary Annie Nettles nee West (1852-1939), and a multitude of assorted kith and kin . . .
Funeral services for Mrs. Emma Patience Muston, 82, were held Tuesday [08 Sept 1964] at the Phillips & Luckey chapel in Rockdale. Burial was in the Tanglewood cemetery, with Rev. James M. Frazier, of the Methodist Church, Lexington, officiating. Mrs. Muston died Monday [07 Sept 1964] at the Richards hospital in Rockdale. For the past two and one-half years she had been in a Rockdale rest home. Most of her life was spent in the Cole Springs / Tanglewood community and in Lexington. She was born June 18, 1882, in Lee County, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Nettles. She was married to Charlie G. Muston, who preceded her in death when the children were young.
Surviving are seven daughters, Mrs. Joe Tomkins, Mrs. Alvin Jones, Mrs. Ben Reynolds, and Mrs. B. R. Taylor, all of Houston; Mrs. Dean Quinney of Lexington, Mrs. John Taylor of Lexington, and Mrs. J. E. Pounders of Rockdale; and one sister, Mrs. Oscar Peebles of Houston; also 18 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren. Pall bearers were [grandsons] F.L. Pounders, K.D. Quinney, E.P. Lerche, A.D. Quinney, A.D. Pounders, and S.D. Quinney. Rockdale Reporter, September 1964
