Taking over an abandoned cemetery to preserve their loved ones' resting place

Jacqueline Haynes cleaning the gravesite of her second cousin at Lincoln Memorial Park in Carson, California. Photo: Wally Skalij/Los Angles Times/TNS

The cemetery was arid, weedy and chained shut, with a sign that simply said, "Unreachable". Somehow, they had to get inside.

The three women standing at the wrought-iron gate on that day in late July had never met before. But they found they had a couple of key things in common: a sense of incredulity that Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery was closed and the determination to get past those gates to where their loved ones were buried.