I get requests weekly for many things …A few months back I had a request forwarded to me from the Forks Chamber of Commerce to find a grave; the grave of a baby who died in 1980. His sister wanted help …

Amey wrote, “I have a brother angel that was buried in your cemetery. He passed as a six-month-old baby in 1980. His name is Christopher Rollins. He does not have a headstone and I would like to get one for him. I do not know where in the cemetery he is located and I do not know where to send the headstone or where to bring it. Can you help me with this?”

So before I answered Amey I checked archives and found an obituary and found that it did say that six-month-old Christopher had been buried at the Forks Cemetery. Since I have a cemetery map in my office and a database of those buried there I first checked the database and sadly he was not listed.

I emailed Amey back and let her know this. But I did tell her that I found on the map a grave in the baby section, which is just the saddest section, that was identified as “unknown”.

Amey shared the following, “My parents said he had a bush planted for him because they couldn’t afford a headstone at the time. My mom has since passed and it’s weighing very heavy on my dad about him not having a headstone. We lived in Beaver, which is also where I was born.”

Amey shared that the family moved soon after her birth and with her dad aging it is his wish to find the grave and have a marker placed.

So on Memorial Day, it was my mission, after taking photos at the Memorial Day Ceremony, to find the grave of Christopher Rollins. After rechecking the map my point of reference was the grave of Terry Hinchen, two markers over from him was the unknown baby grave in the baby section ….and there it was, the bush that was planted 44 years ago.

I took some photos to email to Amey, Christopher was found. Amey wondered if the bush could be removed and a marker added. I told her I thought it would be a shame to remove the bush since it has been there so long and it appears there is plenty of room to add a headstone.

Amey emailed back, “I don’t want him to be baby unknown anymore. My dad can’t travel as much anymore so I am hoping to get it placed and then get him up there to see it. I’m 41, we left Forks when I was six months old. He hasn’t been back since. I went back in 2015. I actually have a picture of the shrub but wasn’t sure if it was his site or not.”

So the next step is to find out how to get this done for her and her dad.

Happy Father’s Day

Christi Baron, Editor