00:00 Justin Dang: Two children, a sister and her brother, are shown sitting together on a bench. The sister is joyful, wrapping her arm around her younger brother while petting their dog on her lap. Her brother lovingly leans in and embraces her, while a duck sits on his right side. This sculpture is one of many built in Babyland, a cemetery for infants and small children located in Olivewood Memorial Park, Riverside. What does it all mean? With 91.9 KVCR News, I'm Justin Dang. I sat down to speak with Randy Holland, the cemetery counselor and funeral director of Olivewood Memorial Park. According to Holland, Babyland was founded out of a man's love for his daughter.
00:39 Randy Holland: So technically from the beginning, Olivewood Memorial Park has been based on founding by a man named Charles Perrine, who the daughter died at a young age and she was laid to rest at another cemetery. And there were some issues there, so he ended up giving part of his own property, his own land, to establish the Olivewood Memorial Park, and then he subsequently brought her here. So Sandy Ross, who is the former cemetery manager here, she was here for 32 plus years. She actually retired in 2022. She brought Babyland to Olivewood because of the story of Charles Perrine and his daughter. Basically wanted to create a beautiful place for children based on a parent's love for their child and wanting to create a beautiful resting place for them.
01:27 Justin Dang: In Babyland, monuments depict various animals or children playing to give the cemetery a childlike wonder, as if it is from the children's point of view.
01:36 Randy Holland: That's kind of the idea behind it. Basically, the giraffe reminded Sandy of Toys R Us, right? Jeffrey from Toys R Us. And the hippos, kind of those whimsical dancing characters in Fantasia. And then the deer and the rabbits, they're kind of to represent that of Bambi. And then my favorite is this. The sea serpent, which is called Cecil, the Seasick Sea Serpent. And as I mentioned, the bench is for the mothers to be able to sit while watching their children.
02:12 Justin Dang: Holland believes that these monuments bring comfort to the children and grieving parents involved.
02:18 Randy Holland: Long story short, nobody wants to come to a cemetery, right? Nobody wants to lay their child to rest. So Sandy's vision was to create a bit of a whimsical nursery theme so that it would make it feel a little bit more like a playground. Not so somber. Just a peaceful, whimsical perspective from a child's eyes. So a parent could be more at peace.
02:39 Justin Dang: To Holland, there is one story of a child buried at Babyland that stands out to him.
02:45 Randy Holland: So the monuments themselves were inspired for all children, none specifically. But there's one story that a family came in and told her that they had a child that the doctors told them wasn't viable, that they wouldn't live, and they recommended perhaps not continuing with the pregnancy. And the parents refused. They wanted to be able to spend as much time as they could with their child. And even though the child was born severely deformed and disabled and didn't live very long, the story was told that when the parents came in to lay their child to rest, Sandy expressed deep sorrow and expressed her concern for them. And their response to her was that they viewed their baby as a blessing. That, that time that they got to hold with this child, they got to hold him, they got to be with this child, that it really touched her and kind of gave her greater motivation to really serve and provide for families that lose a child.
03:51 Justin Dang: At Olivewood Memorial Park, children's burials are treated with a significant level of respect.
03:57 Randy Holland: A lot of people that have allowed us to serve them when a loss has occurred, they've lived long, vibrant lives. They've had careers, they have families. There's never an easy time to lose a family member, right? But one could say they lived a nice long life or they accomplished all these things. But with a child, their life is so short, it can be much more traumatizing. And so our goal is to, when we serve these families, just be mindful of this deep grief that they have because of either the fact that they didn't get to spend any time with their child, or a very brief time.
04:38 Justin Dang: At Babyland, there will always be a place to remember and honor deceased children.
04:44 Randy Holland: It's essential to provide a peaceful place, no matter the age of the person that passes away. A place for people to come and ponder and reflect and remember that life, right? That individual, that person. There's a tremendous amount of history here that families have given us the honor to hope that I'm going to be a part of, right? Specifically, Babyland is a place for families to be able to come, to remember their child. Sometimes they bring other children. It's important. It's important for those families to have that closure and a place to come and be respectful.
05:24 Justin Dang: Babyland in Olivewood Memorial Park is a reminder that the lives of children are forever cherished and never forgotten. From 91.9 KVCR News, I'm Justin Dang.
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Song Credit:
On Rainy Days (Piano) by Zight, Free Music Archive, CC BY
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Justin Dang is a student at UC Riverside majoring in biology.