Kellie and Cory

Among the Westra siblings, there are two angel babies ... Kellie Sue and Cory Matthew. Kellie was just eight days old when she passed away, and Cory died in utero, just shortly before his due date. There weren't a lot of pictures of Kellie (and none of Cory) ... in Mom/Margie's history, she stated "She was such a beautiful baby, prettier every day--so each day I thought, tomorrow we'll get some pictures taken." Scott (age 15) had taken a picture of her through the glass at the hospital, there was the hospital photo (which Mom didn't care for) and a nurse took a couple polaroids when she was at Primary Children's. 

You can read the full history here ... History of Kellie Sue Westra

The next year, Mom/Margie was pregnant again. "I wish I could find the history I wrote up after his birth. He died in utero 2 weeks before his due date. I went to doctor visits alone with all our kids, so had to deal with the news alone. I hadn't felt him move for a day or so, so I was worried when I went in that day to the doctor. The doctor put some seaweed type stuff in, as I remember, that helps to soften your cervix to prepare your body to deliver, so you don't have to carry the baby longer before giving birth naturally. Then they induce labor the next day I think. He weighed 5 lbs. and was born in the labor room with just LaMar and I there. LaMar had to go find a nurse and tell her the baby had been born. We hadn't thought to take a camera and they didn't have one, so we don't have any pictures of him. I think hospitals have cameras now and are better prepared for those circumstances. They put me in a room as far away from the nursery as possible, so as to not hear the babies cry and see them delivered to the moms for feedings. We already had a friend birthday party scheduled for Jeni, so Dad handled that alone. The hospital brought me a little birthday cake since I was there on my birthday. They said there was a heart problem with Cory, but not bad enough to have caused his death, so they didn't really know why it happened."

From Mom/Margie: When Kellie died on April 25, 1979, Heidi Lindsay in our ward went to the cemetery and gathered flowers that were there from the burial and created this nice framed arrangement from them. I think she brought it over to us on Memorial Day. Such a thoughtful surprise.

When Cory was buried after he was born on Nov. 5, 1980, we gathered flowers and hired Beth Crook in the ward to make one as a remembrance of him. Beth did a beautiful job and would not accept any payment. The larger one is Kellie's and the smaller one is Cory's. Kellie's could be displayed in different directions--I don't know which is correct. I always thought if we had a wall group of the other kid's photos, we would have these for two we lost.