Children’s Memorial and Healing Garden

Children’s Memorial and Healing Garden at Resurrection Cemetery is a unique place of ministry to anyone — parents, grandparents, relatives and friends — who seeks healing following the death of an infant or young child. Created in the spirit of reconciliation and peace by The Catholic Cemeteries, the Memorial is designed as a permanent, sacred place for bereaved families of all faiths.

The grieving process can be a long and lonely path for those who suffer the loss of a pregnancy or the death of a baby or young child. Parents and other family members are often isolated in their grief, their losses unrecognized and unacknowledged. The Memorial is designed to provide opportunities for the acknowledgement of these painful losses, for remembrance of the infants and children who have died, and for the grieving that is essential for wholeness.

Because offering comfort to those who mourn is part of the mission of The Catholic Cemeteries, it is our sincere wish that this Memorial, with its peaceful pond setting, will be a source of healing and hope to bereaved families. Visitors are welcome every day of the week.

wall of remembrance

The focal point of the Memorial is the plaza featuring a beautiful bronze statue of the biblical Rachel, surrounded by the Wall of Remembrance on which the names of deceased children are engraved. Parents and families are invited to memorialize a child with an inscription on the Wall of Remembrance. A tax-deductible donation of $500 covers the cost of the inscription and future upkeep of the Memorial. 

Children’s Memorial and Prayer Garden

Anyone who has experienced the enormous loss of a precious child knows the long and difficult journey toward healing and wholeness. At Gethsemane Cemetery, the Children’s Memorial and Prayer Garden offers bereaved families of every faith a reverent and sacred place of remembrance.

The Memorial is a gift of Don and Linda Warner in honor of their daughter, Angela, who died of cystic fibrosis in 2003 at the age of 21. The Warners designed the Memorial to be a welcoming environment of peace and tranquility. In this lovely setting, families are invited to reflect, remember and pray for their beloved children.

The Memorial is nestled in a pine tree grove just outside Gethsemane Cemetery’s Chapel Mausoleum. Granite benches surround a pool and fountain with large rocks and a bronze dolphin family emerging from the water, inspired by Angela Warner’s lifelong love of dolphins and the ocean.

Around the pool are features that invite pause and reflection. An image of Jesus and a child is etched on a granite wall, along with a poem written by the Warners in memory of their daughter, entitled Lament for a Child. Three bronze angels, created by Italian sculptor Guido Mariani, celebrate God’s many blessings and promise of eternal life.

Visitors are welcome to the Memorial and garden every day of the week. The Gethsemane Chapel Mausoleum is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to noon.

Memorialization opportunity

Bereaved parents are invited to memorialize a child’s name on paving bricks that border the walkway leading to the Children’s Memorial and Prayer Garden at Gethsemane Cemetery. A tax-deductible donation of $250 covers the cost of the memorial brick and inscription, and supports the endowment for the care and maintenance of the Memorial.