Behind the Badge
Baby Kathleen may have never experienced the feeling of being nurtured during her brief earthly stay.
But on Nov. 5, she received enough of an outpouring of nurturing and love to last an eternity.
Working with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Garden of Innocence, a nonprofit that provides dignified and ceremonial burials for unidentified babies, laid Baby Kathleen to rest at El Toro Memorial Park in a small section of the cemetery apportioned for that purpose.
Norman Scott places dirt in the grave of Baby Kathleen, an unidentified infant who was provided with a name, memorial service and burial through the Orange County Garden of Innocence project. Scott named the baby and kept her remains for two months before Saturday’s memorial service. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
OCSD Chaplain Kathleen Kooiman, an OCSD Explorers Color Guard, Garden of Innocence volunteers, the Knights of Columbus of Orange County and volunteers from civic and religious groups conducted a memorial service for Baby Kathleen, complete with prayer and song, a eulogy and a release of white doves to symbolize the spirit of a child being set free.
“This is the truest sense of what community is: to come together during tough times, to support each other, stand shoulder to shoulder and hold each other up,” OCSD Undersheriff Don Barnes said to the attendees. “I could not be prouder of our involvement with the Garden of Innocence Project.”
All who were present stood in a circle as a small wooden urn containing Baby Kathleen’s cremated remains got passed from person to person.
The marker for Baby Kathleen at the El Toro Memorial Park Cemetery. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
With a bagpiper playing “Amazing Grace,” attendees, one by one, sprinkled rose pedals into a rectangular grave before the urn with Baby Kathleen’s remains was placed there. Then more rose pedals were sprinkled and a marker was secured, engraved with the name “Kathleen” within a heart and the date Nov. 5, 2016.
Baby Kathleen’s remains now are alongside the remains of three other babies in the El Toro Garden of Innocence.
The ashes of the first two babies, Aaliyah and Collette, were memorialized and laid to rest there in January. A third, Makayla, was memorialized in July.
“We come together today as a community of grievers to acknowledge the life that she had,” Lindy Green of Saddleback Church said during her eulogy. “We acknowledge the pain of this loss as well. Today I’m thankful that (God) is wiping away our tears and that he gets to hold her in heaven and wipe away the tears that she may have shed while she was here on Earth.”
Members of the Knights of Columbus stand at attention during a memorial service and burial of Baby Kathleen at the El Toro Memorial Park Cemetery on Saturday, Nov. 5. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
Before she became Kathleen, she was simply baby “Jane Doe” at the OCSD Coroner’s office.
When the Coroner’s Division is in possession of an unidentified baby, they contact the Garden of Innocence Project to give the baby an identity and a proper burial.
There is a story behind every name given to the previously unnamed babies.
Baby Kathleen’s name was chosen by a Garden of Innocence volunteer whose late wife bore that name, said Marla Kennedy, who oversees the El Toro Memorial Park garden, which is situated alongside a section of the cemetery reserved for deceased children.
Elissa Davey, of Vista, founded the Garden of Innocence in 1999.
Emmitt Moran, 4, places flowers in the grave during the memorial service and burial of Baby Kathleen. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
Davey read a newspaper article about an abandoned baby discovered in a trash can in Chula Vista.
“My first thought was how could someone do that,” Davey said. “I couldn’t forget for some reason.”
About a month later, Davey contacted the coroner’s office and was told the baby was still there and would go into an unmarked grave if nobody claimed him.
“I asked how can you claim a baby that is not yours and he said find a dignified place to put him,” Davey said. “So I started a dignified place.”
That first baby was named Adam.
El Toro Memorial Park Cemetery Manager Bud Bales places the urn containing the remains of Baby Kathleen in her grave during the memorial service for the unidentified infant on Saturday. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
The Garden of Innocence at El Toro Memorial Park is one of 11 around the country, and Baby Kathleen is the 363rd baby to be provided with a name and dignified memorial service by the nonprofit.
“The (Orange County Sheriff’s Department) has been incredible,” Davey said. “They show up for every single service. This beautiful chaplain comes and she’s given messages and given prayers. To have them come is such an honor.”
Said Kooiman: “May we never forget Baby Kathleen, and though now she lives in heaven, may she also live in each of our hearts.”
Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes holds the remains of Baby Kathleen, an unidentified infant, as a symbolic gesture of holding a baby who likely was never held before her death. Kathleen was given a name, memorial and burial through the Garden of Innocence program Saturday at the El Toro Memorial Park Cemetery. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
The remains of Baby Kathleen are presented during her memorial service before being buried in the Garden of Innocence at the El Toro Memorial Park Cemetery. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
Marla Kennedy, director of the Orange County Garden of Innocence project, makes a few remarks during the memorial service for Baby Kathleen. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
Volunteers for the Garden of Innocence Project release doves symbolizing the previous three infants buried at the Garden of Innocence at the El Toro Memorial Park Cemetery during the memorial service for Baby Kathleen, the fourth unidentified baby buried in the garden. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
El Toro Memorial Park Cemetery Manager Bud Bales places the marker for Baby Kathleen in her grave following the conclusion of the memorial service for the unidentified infant. The Orange County Garden of Innocence project provided her with a name and a burial. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
Chief Senior Chaplain for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Kathleen Kooiman carries the remains of Baby Kathleen. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
Chief Senior Chaplain for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Kathleen Kooiman marches in a procession as she carries the remains of Baby Kathleen. Photo by Miguel Vasconcellos
