My day today has been so sad but happy. Our baby girl Rosemary was stillborn in April 1961. My husband and I were 22 at the time and very naive. After the birth, our baby was whisked away and we were too traumatised to query anything that happened next. We were told that all stillborn babies were called either a Mary or a John and that they would be disposed of. How young and accepting we were of authority. We just went along with it. Things are so different nowadays, thank goodness.



Unfortunately, my husband and I never discussed events. We were too upset in our own way and never showed our true feelings to each other. Many years later, I tried to find out where Rosemary was buried (if indeed she was). The Maternity hospital had closed by this time and no records could be found. I got in touch with the local cemeteries, to no avail.



Rosemary was never far from my thoughts but I thought I had tried all avenues.



My husband died five years ago and this year I celebrated my 80th birthday. I decided to have one more try to find our daughter so that I could put her to rest. I again contacted the nearest cemetery to the Maternity home and was told that she definitely wasn’t there. They advised me to get in touch with the Genealogy office at York Cemetery to see if they could help me.



Today I went along, explained my story and thank God, she was found. What happened, was that our surname begins with a P and in their records, Rosemary was listed under the same name spelt with a T. Thanks to very helpful volunteers, they discovered this error after looking through the records and spotting the similar name.



As you can imagine, words cannot describe my joy at finding her. One of the volunteers took me to her resting place. She had been buried in a communal grave along with four other stillborn babies and five adults. How very sad. We were never asked what we would have liked for her.



At least I can now die knowing that she has been found. I hope my story may help some other grieving parents to never give up hope and never forget.