Baby Memorial ‘Vision’ Becomes A Reality At Cemetery

SELBYVILLE – One man’s effort to improve a largely forgotten section of a local cemetery culminated this week with a dedication by Bishop Francis Malooly.

Malooly, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, presided over a ceremony at the new stone marking the section of the Gate of Heaven Cemetery set aside for infants. Ocean City resident Joe Mulholland spent the past year raising money to have the new stone installed.

“Thirteen months ago it was a vision,” Mulholland said the day after the ceremony. “Yesterday it was a reality because of so many parts played by so many people. I was just one part.”

Mulholland, 88, became a regular visitor at Gate of Heaven Cemetery following his wife’s death. It was on one of his twice-weekly visits that he first noticed the small area of the graveyard set aside for babies that have passed away. Unlike the rest of the cemetery, it was plain and overlooked. Tiny markers the size of index cards delineated the graves.

“A lot of the couples didn’t have money for anything,” Mulholland said.

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