In memory of Hope Grace Rockland, The Baby Found in a Deli Garbage Can
by Robert Solano
Photo by Mike B., at pexels.com
If the idea of having children while managing two careers seems overwhelming, imagine how my parents felt. Victor and Dorothy, or Vic and Dot for short, have been married for 56 years. In addition to each working long careers, they also served as foster parents from 1970 through the 1990s. They have raised over 70 children—that’s seven-zero!
Their children varied greatly in age with some being infants and others being young adults. While serving as foster parents, they opened their home to an unimaginable number of children, many who had unique challenges. For example, many children were previously abused or sexually assaulted, some had learning disabilities, some were autistic, they had an infant foster child who was addicted to crack/cocaine and born with AIDS, one teenage girl came to them pregnant, and they even legally adopted a deceased infant who was found in a dumpster just so that they could give her a proper funeral.
At the peak, Vic and Dot had 13 children living in their home at the same time. Some children stayed with them a few days or a few weeks, some a few years, and some never left. In addition to their foster children, they have two biological daughters and adopted three other children, myself included. It is clear why many of Vic and Dot’s friends and family call them “Miracle Workers” or “Saints.”
I can personally attest to their generous spirit and open hearts. They adopted me when I was a very young child, and I lived with them and my other adopted and foster siblings until I left for college.
In my book, Alpha Couples: Build a Powerful Marriage Like a Boss, I share my interview with my parents, not just because of our relationship, but because they are definitely an Alpha Couple. Although they may not be as professionally successful as other couples in this book, they have accomplished feats that would seem impossible to most couples, and they have done it together. My nonprofit scholarship is dedicated to their honor.
You can get Alpha Couples on Amazon, Audible, or wherever books are sold, but in this post, I wanted to share one particular story from my childhood. The article below by Lisa Saunders highlights one of the many amazing things they have done in their lives.
This article first appeared in the Rockland Community College, Outlook Student Press (Vol.39 Issue 2 Sep. 16, 2006). Although this article is no longer available on their website, you can view current editions at https://issuu.com/outlookpress.
The Nameless Dead
by Lisa Saunders
Did you know that Brucker Hall on the Rockland Community College (RCC) campus was once a workhouse hosting the kind of misery read about in novels like Oliver Twist? That the residents covered themselves in newspapers on their bare bunks? That many who died there are buried with nameless markers, or no marker at all, right there on campus?
Unlike the dignified entrance into the veteran’s cemetery, also located on the campus, the sign posted beside Rockland County Cemetery is small and rust-streaked.
There are only a few markers to direct us to the dead, some homemade with stick-on letters and several concrete posts in rows etched with roman numerals. But there is one strikingly prominent marker—a large monument that reveals the grinding poverty suffered by those interred there. It reads:
In memory of Hope Grace Rockland
Let No Child Be Forgotten
Children of all ages 1959-1992
Unknown Baby – June 28, 1967
Also listed on the stone are death dates for over 80 children. Who was Hope Grace Rockland? Who was the “Unknown Baby?” Zipora Reitman, Director of Communications at RCC, remembered reading about Hope Grace Rockland in the Journal News. She was the highly publicized abandoned 6 ½ pound baby found in a deli garbage can on West Clarkstown Rd. in Spring Valley on Thanksgiving of 1991. “The marker was erected in honor of her,” Reitman said.
According to Jamie Kempton, author of Rockland Community College: the early years, the Rockland County Cemetery was commonly called “Potter’s field.” Brucker Hall was formerly the “Almshouse,” where Rockland’s poor lived, worked, and died. Since 1870, they, with other county indigents, were buried in Potter’s field, which now holds over 800 bodies—more than 80 of them children.
The Almshouse was originally a frame structure built in 1837. In 1883 the building was replaced by the north wing of the present Brucker Hall, constructed of brick from Haverstraw’s brickyards. The other sections were added in various stages. There were 47 acres of farmland for the residents to work. In 1957 conditions in the Almshouse were found intolerable and it was condemned and vacated. Remodeling began shortly thereafter to make it suitable for RCC’s opening in 1959.
According to Robert Burghardt, author of Initial Steps in Creating A Community College, “The connecting section contained the public areas and the two original buildings which became the wings contained the rooms for the residents. In these wings, the feel and smell of the almshouse still lingered. The corridors were dark and narrow, painted the then-usual institutional green. Opening onto the corridors were the rooms in which the residents lived. They measured about six by ten feet, just large enough to contain a bed and dresser. Each room had a window but no closet. The names of the old people were posted on cards on each door. The word “Dead” is written on some.
Kempton states: “The basement—it was a dungeon used to hold uncontrollable inmates—was littered with dead rats.” As of 1979, some of the cells used for incarceration still remained.
What also remained after the Almshouse vacated was John Rypka, the caretaker. Disgruntled by the strangers encroaching on his territory to begin the college, he was known to chase after them with his shotgun.
According to Tim Henderson of the Journal News, the college cut through the cemetery to build a sidewalk to the parking lot. The bodies that were uncovered were reburied but “Dean Henry Larom once found a pine coffin on the desk. Students had stolen the coffin from the cemetery as a prank.”
Anthony Lombardi, Rockland’s Veterans Burial Commissioner, said very few people visit the cemetery except the students on their way to class and county workers who cut the grass. Lombardi arranges the burials for Rockland’sveterans and for those too poor to afford to arrange their own. He attends everyone—over 6,000 since 1973. Sadly, there are times he is the only one there. Particularly hard for Lombardi are the funerals for the children whose parents are unable to afford a proper burial.
And what of Hope Grace Rockland found in the deli garbage can? Co-presidents of the Rockland Foster Parents Association, Dotty Crapanzano and Suzanne Peters, adopted the little girl, gave her a name, and buried her with dignity at the Brick Church Cemetery. A bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” to the large crowd gathered to say goodbye.
Encouraged by the concern of the community over Hope Grace, Crapanzano, then employed by RCC, raised the money necessary to also honor the more than 80 children buried on RCC’s campus. Crapanzano was proud to report that RCC’s “Student Senate donated a large portion of the money needed for the memorial. Prior to the memorial, the area covering the children was just grass and weeds.” Crapanzano continued, “It meant so much to me to receive letters from parents whose children are buried there. They now feel they have a beautiful spot to lay their flowers and pay their respects.”
When asked who the “Unknown Baby” was, Crapanzano replied, “In the records, we searched through, many were recorded as unknown.”
Although these children remain nameless to their visitors, Crapanzano succeeded in making sure they will never be forgotten.
You can read more about my parents in Alpha Couples: Build a Powerful Marriage Like a Boss.
