AUBURN – When Robert Murphy spoke with Ray Lemieux last winter about sprucing up Briggs Cemetery, neither knew it would be the last conversation between them.

Murphy, founder of R.E. Murphy & Son Monuments, was in Florida recovering from a heart attack when he and Lemieux discussed plans to clean and straighten headstones in the 18th-century cemetery. The project was started by Lemieux’s grandson, Dan Poulin, to fulfill his requirements for Eagle Scout.

But Murphy’s recovery took a bad turn. He passed away before he could return to Maine to fix the crooked, encrusted marble markers.

“Two weeks before he passed away he called me and all he talked about was cleaning the cemetery and stones,” Lemieux said. “He was very enthused about helping out.”

On Saturday, the families of both men joined together to see the project through.

“He told Ray Lemieux that we would clean the cemetery this year and make it look good,” said David Murphy, Robert’s son. “He must have been thinking about it in the hospital. It meant more to him than I realized. So we want to finish it on his behalf.”

The drizzle Saturday morning didn’t dampen the turnout. Poulin was joined by his dad and Scoutmaster, as well as his grandparents, while four Murphy siblings and their families got to work.

The Murphys brought a power washer and special solution that cleaned the marble headstones until they shone. They also reset some of the larger headstones.

“The big ones are 5 or 6 feet tall and weigh about 1,000 pounds,” said David Murphy. “We have special bars to straighten them out.”

Most of the smaller headstones had been straightened by Poulin and his family earlier this year. The 17-year-old Edward Little senior actually began the project in 2007, but an injury to his arm kept him from doing any heavy lifting until this year, and then the rainy summer slowed the project further.

“I was relieved the weather held off today,” he said, noting heavy rains had been forecast.

Poulin and his family cleared brush, raked, filled in sunken graves and even took down two rotted trees near the cemetery’s entrance.

“I’m real proud of him,” said Edith Lemieux, Dan’s grandmother and wife of Ray. Intrigued by the place, she researched its past and compiled a history.

“I’m giving it to the Androscoggin Historical Society to put in their records,” she said.

One of the first cemeteries in East Auburn, Briggs has about 250 graves, some dating back to the 1700s and many to the 1800s. Two Revolutionary War soldiers, Samuel Berry and William Briggs, are buried there and the Perkins family plot bears witness to an epidemic of the early 19th century. Four children of Enoch and Susannah Perkins died within 19 days of each other in the summer of 1804.

“I appreciate the history behind it, you think about the families buried there,” Poulin said. “Apparently one of the families actually came over on the Mayflower.”

He’s pleased with the project.

“It’s been a long process, but also a big improvement,” he said. The overgrown cemetery – at the corner of Turner Street and Gracelawn Road – was a mess when his grandfather pointed it out to him. It seemed like a natural choice for his Eagle Scout project.

For the Murphys, the satisfaction of bringing dignity back to the cemetery is a little more personal.

“Everybody wants to be there in tribute to my dad,” said Murphy.