Memorial service held
for Taft baby "Noah John Doe"
"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!"
- Isaiah 49:15
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About 100 people attended a memorial service for baby "Noah John Doe" this morning.
Television news cameras from Channels 17, 23, and 29/58 were there, along
with a Bakersfield Californian reporter.
You can listen to the service (about 16 minutes) by
clicking here.The
below article was posted before the service:
A memorial graveside service will be held Wednesday, August 20, 2008 for baby "Noah John Doe," whose body was
found in a Taft dumpster on May 26. Rev. Jim Beilstein will lead the service, which will begin at 10 am
at the West Side District Cemetery,
440 E. Cedar St.
in Taft. If you are able, please join us at the service, in recognition of the fact that although
Noah's life was brief and his size was small, his life was very precious to God.
"I consider the baby a resident of Taft and it needs to be taken care of by the people of Taft,"
said Charles Landwehr, co-owner of Erickson and Brown Funeral Home, which is covering the cost of the
funeral service on behalf of the Kern County Funeral Directors Association.
The baby's grave is being paid for by the Westside Christian Ministers Association.
"The death of Noah--and the calloused way in which his body was discarded--shows how much the Taft
community needs a place where pregnant women can go for help," said Tim Palmquist of the LifeHouse
pregnancy center, which recently opened at 28 Emmons Park Dr. adjacent to Taft College. "We hope that
God can use us to help prevent tragedies like this in the future."
The coroner's office determined that baby Noah was approximately 24 weeks gestation, but no cause
of death has been released.
Please continue to pray for the mother of this baby, because evidence suggests
that she may have been a victim of a crime.
The Safe Surrender law allows mothers to surrender their newborn babies at a hospital or fire
station without facing any charges. The Taft fire station has been prominently displaying a Safe
Surrender poster on its front door before this incident occurred.
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