Remembrance Project
The People Behind the Purpose
What started as a shared love of genealogy, family history and cemetery walks grew into a mission to ensure that every life is remembered dand every grave is marked.
About the Remembrance Project
The Remembrance Project was founded by Keriann Josh and Michael Brophy—cousins, lifelong friends, EMS colleagues, family history enthusiasts, and frequent cemetery explorers.
For years, we have shared a passion for genealogy, building family trees, and preserving the stories of those who came before us. Many of our conversations and adventures have centered around visiting cemeteries, researching local history, and uncovering family connections that might otherwise be lost to time. During those cemetery walks, we began noticing something we couldn’t ignore.
Time and time again, we came across graves marked only by temporary funeral home markers. Some were faded and weathered. Others had become nearly unreadable after years, and sometimes decades, of exposure to the elements. In some cases, there was no marker at all. We often found ourselves asking the same questions. Who was this person? Why was their grave never permanently marked? Was a headstone simply out of reach financially for their family? Had there been no family left to place one? Had time simply passed and the opportunity been lost?
No matter the reason, we felt that every life deserved to be remembered.
As first responders, we have dedicated much of our lives to serving others. Through our work in EMS, we have witnessed firsthand the importance of compassion, dignity, and honoring the lives of those we serve. Those same values inspired us to take action when we saw so many individuals resting in unmarked graves or beneath markers that had long since faded from memory.
What began as conversations during our cemetery walks grew into a shared mission.
We wanted to help preserve the memory of those who might otherwise be forgotten. We wanted to assist families facing financial hardship and help ensure that loved ones were memorialized with dignity and respect. From those simple walks, The Remembrance Project was born.
Today, our mission is to provide permanent grave markers for unmarked graves and to assist families who may not have the financial means to purchase a headstone for a loved one.
We believe that every person has a story, every life has value, and every resting place deserves recognition.
A headstone is more than stone and engraving. It is a name. A memory. A place for future generations to visit, reflect, and remember.
Through community support, donations, and partnerships, The Remembrance Project works to ensure that no life is forgotten, that every life is remembered, and that remembrance endures for generations to come.