Find a Grave Team

Find a Grave Volunteer of the Month

Congratulations to James Bassi and Anne Macnair, our featured Volunteers of the Month for December, 2019!

James’ interest in Find a Grave started while researching his family tree on Ancestry. He discovered hints that led to Find a Grave memorials. He shared his discoveries with his mother Anne, and together the two of them developed a passion for research. They find joy in helping others by adding headstone photos and memorials for thousands of strangers to Find a Grave.

James and Anne have added over 6000 headstone photos and memorials in the past couple of months alone! One branch of their family tree is from Italy, so James and Anne planned a trip to visit Italy last summer. While there, they photographed as many cemeteries as possible. Their purpose was “to provide information for the relatives abroad that don’t have a chance to visit so they could see the resting place of their loved ones.” They each have a favorite cemetery that they visited while in Italy, Anne loved Cimitero di Isola di Compiano while James connected with Cimitero di Compiano.

The interesting discoveries and stories they find while photographing makes the research even more exciting for them. For instance, they photographed a headstone that included a statue of a child holding a flower. One would assume that the burial was for a child, but they discovered the headstone was actually a lovely tribute for a teacher. 

It’s exhilarating and moving to watch memorials being added to the site globally. Find a Grave expands each day thanks to our members. We’ve translated the site into nine different languages to make it even easier for more people to join the Find a Grave community. Language preference can be changed from the language dropdown at the base of the homepage.

James and Anne, our accolades to you for your extraordinary work in cemeteries! We are so glad that you are Find a Grave members and appreciate all your efforts in recording and memorializing those that have passed.

We welcome your suggestions for Volunteer of the Month. If you’d like to submit a volunteer for consideration in future months, please send an email with details of their work to feedback@findagrave.com.

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