Remembering Our Losses: 2025 Baby Memorial
On a warm spring afternoon, families, healthcare professionals, and community members gathered at Park Memorial Funeral Home for the 2025 Baby Memorial Service
—an annual tradition every May, dedicated to honouring and remembering babies who died during pregnancy, at birth, or in early infancy.
This year’s service once again gently embraced Park Memorial’s
Teddy Bear theme, offering a symbol of love and comfort. Teddy Bears, often given in moments of joy and held close in times of sorrow, served as quiet reminders of the babies we carry in our hearts.
Park Memorial also warmly welcomed donations of teddy bears that families generously brought with them in memory of their own babies. The donated teddy bears get a special card attached to them, some with a special message from the family donating, and are collected for The Pregnancy and Loss Program to be given to another family in the future who experiences a loss.
This touching poem by Ron Tranmer, “Teddy Bear,” beautifully captures the ache of absence, the power of memory, and the hope of reunion:
TEDDY BEAR
By Ron Tranmer
It’s my very favorite place.
I feel closer to you there.
We rock the hours away.
Me and your Teddy Bear.
The rocking chair is squeaking,
as rocking chairs will do.
I pretend the one I’m holding
isn’t Teddy Bear, but you.
I miss your little chubby cheeks.
They were so fun to kiss.
Cuddling you, and hearing you goo
are among the things I miss.
Precious memories of you linger.
My child I miss you so.
I hope one day my heart will heal.
It’s hard to let you go.
When in time God calls me home
to be with you up there;
With joy I’ll hold you in my arms
instead of Teddy Bear.
During the ceremony, each baby’s name was read aloud; the families who attended in person spoke their own baby’s name out loud to be heard and acknowledged by all, and additional babies’ names were read by Patti Walker, the Bereavement Coordinator for the Pregnancy & Infant Loss Program. As each baby’s name was read aloud, a candle was lit in their memory.
Families also placed
handwritten messages to their babies into a heart shaped, biodegradable urn; each personalized note being a tangible expression of love and remembrance. The urn with its messages inside was then interred during a ceremony at Northern Lights Cemetery, symbolizing that while grief is deeply personal, it is never carried alone. The ceremony itself took place close in proximity to where all of the babies are resting together in the cemetery…
they will never be alone.
The 2025 Baby Memorial was made possible through the compassion and partnership of Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health’s Pregnancy and Infant Loss Program, along with the support of funeral professionals and volunteers who ensure this annual ceremony remains a meaningful space of remembrance.
To every parent who has experienced the unimaginable loss of a baby: Our hearts are with you, and with all who loved your baby, as you grieve.
Wanted. Loved. Remembered. Always.
We invite you to watch this year’s Baby Memorial Service, which reflects the tenderness and shared emotions of this day (click here to watch the 2025 Baby Memorial Service).
At Park Memorial, the heart of our service is caring for bereaved families. Though no two families are the same, and no two losses feel the same, the loss of a baby connects families in a way that nobody else can fully understand. Our hope is that gathering to remember and honour your baby with other families who are walking a similar grief road brings some comfort, along with understanding that you are not alone.
Click here to learn more about our other
grief support events.
