BANDANA, Ky. (AP) -- A western Kentucky woman's passion for preserving cemeteries started with visits to the burial plot for her own loved ones.

Betty Johnson and her husband lost their adult son, Eugene, to a heart attack last May. He's buried next to Johnson's mother, grandmother and other relatives at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Ballard County.

Johnson tells The Paducah Sun that as she visited the cemetery, she noticed some monuments had deteriorated. In some cases, she says people died or moved away, and no one is left to care for the tombstones.

Johnson has made it her business to make people aware.

She founded MOUNT Inc. in December. The group has 14 members, and its mission is to identify, protect, preserve and restore old cemeteries. The name stands for "Many Old Unique Needy Tombstones."

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