If you've ever seen a man in a red hoodie, armed with a sandblaster and kneeling at the base of gravestones or memorials in the Kansas City metro, it could be the "Monument Guy."

"I sandblast death dates ... It has to be perfect. If my name is attached to it, it has to be right," said Jesse Schowengerdt. "I've done this for 25 years, so they would always say, 'You know, what's his name? You know, the 'monument guy.' What's his name?' And so I thought, well, if I'm going to be called the 'monument guy,' then that's what I'll be. So, it's stuck." Advertisement

Schowengerdt spends his days working among the dead.

"I served a six-month apprenticeship. Learned the trade, learned the art and kind of struck out on my own. And through the years, I added a monument company here, added a funeral

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