Accel’s Hobbs Returns a Tombstone to Its Rightful Resting Place

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – As a service professional who finds himself inspecting and treating in 7 to 10 crawlspaces per day, Matt Hobbs, Accel Pest Control, Virginia Beach, Va., is used to the off-beaten-path encounters. Hobbs’s recent discovery of a gravestone in a crawlspace led him down a circuitous investigative path for an important cause – the return of this gravestone to its rightful resting place.

Hobbs described the initial encounter in the crawlspace of the brick, ranch home, which was being gutted as part of renovation for a flip. “I thought it was just a concrete block. A lot of times [customers] will use these type blocks to prop open doors and they get left under crawlspaces. I went to pick it up with one arm and realized it was too heavy —  that I needed two arms.”

SEP 23 1928 JAN 22 1978

Hobbs took it upon himself to start the process for returning the gravestone to its family and/or proper resting spot. He undertook Internet research, searched military records and even contacted a local military base about possibly turning the gravestone over to them. “They said they would take it but that is not something they normally deal with. I know the military has procedures for items — like 4th of July flags being ceremoniously destroyed — and I didn’t want that to be the outcome for this,” said Hobbs, who decided to keep searching.

A family friend suggested he try Findagrave.com. Thinking that was too simple, he laughed it off at first but attempted a search later. The site not only included the cemetery for the grave, but it also included the section and number where the original resting spot was located within the cemetery. The cemetery just so happened to be in the same Zip code where he’d discovered the gravestone. 

Hobbs described the cemetery as not well maintained and not well marked, so when he arrived he had difficulties locating the grave. He went back to the Findagrave.com website where he was able to uncover a really old map that led him to the gravesite of Leonard Brown. Hobbs laid the gravestone down flat in front of the current one.

After leaving a business card and note under the gravestone, Hobbs  took a moment to pay his respects. “A lot of my friends are military, so that certainly plays a part into it,” Hobbs said of his motivation to return the gravestone. “But the bigger thing is...that it’s somebody’s last rite. It is one of the last things left on Earth that somebody does for you. Certainly, family members will live on with your memory, but 200 years later that gravestone is one of the only things that is left of somebody.”

John Reid, co-owner of Accel Pest & Termite Control, said Hobbs’s actions, while exceptional in this instance, “are really just a snapshot of who he is. Matt genuinely cares about doing the right thing and this is regularly reflected in the way he treats not only his customers but everyone he meets. Both personally and professionally, he is an asset to Accel.”

Reid added that he was been working with some of his military contacts to find additional information about the gravestone (and perhaps family members) but he has been unsuccessful thus far.