Woman, 102, Finds Unmarked Grave of Her Stillborn Baby After Over 70 Years: 'It Was a Relief'
Angela Rigby / SWNS
Marjorie Rigby, 102, has finally gotten closure after finding the unmarked grave of her daughter Laura, who was born stillborn 76 years ago.
"It was a relief to know that she actually had a grave and a baby coffin had been placed in a proper burial ground," Rigby, from Manchester, England, told SWNS about the discovery.
The great-grandmother, a retired secretary, found out she was pregnant with her first child after marrying her husband Charlie, who served in World War II, three days after V-E Day.
Angela Rigby / SWNS
An ex-member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Rigby, then 26, had gone to a private clinic to give birth in Sept. 1946.
"When the time came for labour, I just got on with it," she told SWNS. Three days later, she said she learned that her baby died during labour and would be taken to an incinerator. "And that was it," she said. "I was then offered a cup of tea."
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Rigby, who went on to welcome two more children, said that for years she never knew what became of her daughter's remains. Then, decades later, the family heard about a TV show that "found the graves of stillborn babies."
Her daughter Angela, 70, told SWNS, "My sister who was sitting next to me at the time looked at me, and we thought: 'Maybe it is possible that we could find where our big sister was buried.'"
Angela Rigby / SWNS
With Angela's help, Rigby wrote to a charity called Brief Lives Remembered, who found that Laura's remains were buried at a cemetery outside of Manchester in Stockport.
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"Nobody to my knowledge had confirmed that – that my baby had actually been buried," she said, later noting that she was unable to leave any kind of a plaque as other stillborn babies had been buried in a similar location.
Angela Rigby / SWNS
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Witnessing the cemetery visit in July, Rigby's daughter said, "Seeing her face, it was like she was at peace at last."
"I'm relieved that the whole thing has come to a conclusion, and that I know where she is," said Rigby.
