Sunlight streamed through the tall pine trees on Sunday, illuminating the hallowed ground below. At the top of the hill, a crowd gathered to remember young lives.
The hillside in the Abingtons serves as a final resting place for more than 300 babies and toddlers. Most of their graves are unmarked at Shady Lane Cemetery. For those with headstones, overgrown grass and brush covered them until recently.
Volunteers have spent the last several years restoring the cemetery off Shady Lane Road in South Abington Twp., Lackawanna County. They cut the grass, remove toppled trees, repave roads and research the lives of those in the 102-year-old burial grounds.
When they learned more about the “Clover” section of the cemetery — located on the hillside right next to the road, the volunteers wanted to honor the children’s memories.
“Even though they were here for a short time, their lives were still important to their families,” said Bill Lester, a board member of Friends of Shady Lane Cemetery, the nonprofit formed by the volunteers. “So to me, it was very important to make sure they were not forgotten as well.”
The volunteers unveiled a memorial at the top of the hill on Sunday — a sleeping baby held in an open palm. Conni Way, of Kirkwood, New York, sat in the second row. She recently accompanied her husband to the cemetery to help with clean-up, and she inquired about the names of those buried there. One last name stood out: Gaughan.
She learned that the baby, listed on his death certificate in 1939 as “Stillborn Gaughan,” was her uncle. His twin survived. She had “chills” on Sunday.
“It's amazing,” she said. “I’m so glad that I came here when I did.”
The exact burial locations of most of the babies and toddlers are unknown, but volunteers have learned and shared some of their stories.
Ellen Johnstone died in 1932 at 3 months old, after being found under blankets in her crib. Baby Boy Lesoine died of broncho-pneumonia in 1939. He was 2 months and 17 days old.
Haywood Vernal lived for a total of 2 months and 11 days, before dying of convulsions on March 11, 1944. Lola Jean Kresge was born prematurely in 1950. She died three days after birth, and was buried the next day in grave 2, walk 6, in the Clover section. There are no surviving maps of Clover.
With infant mortality rates being much higher 100 years ago compared to today, the cemetery offered a place for young families to bury their children if they didn’t have the means to buy an entire family plot, explained Carol Wilkerson, president of the nonprofit.
“Some of them lived a few days, some of them lived a few months, some of them a few years, but they died from childhood illnesses and from accidents. This gave them a peaceful, beautiful place where the babies could be laid to rest,” she said. “Because the families typically didn't have a lot of means, most of those graves don't have a marker on them … the idea behind our monument is to honor and remember all of those babies.”
Ownership of the cemetery had changed several times, according to the nonprofit. The 23-acre cemetery had no active management or maintenance since at least 2009. Donations and fundraisers pay for ongoing upkeep and improvements now, including for the Clover section memorial.
Board member Donna Evans has at least 25 family members buried at Shady Lane. She had to fill in her father’s own grave when the cemetery did not. She felt like she owed it to her family to volunteer. She read one of her own poems, “I Look to the Heavens,” during Sunday’s ceremony.
I look to the heavens when the day is bright.
I look to the heavens on a star-filled night.
What am I hoping to see in that glance?
You looking down at me by chance.
