This Sunday, Janet Hauser and her family plan to honor their grandson Jason, who saved two lives without ever drawing a breath himself.
“We think of Jason as our little hero, because that’s just what he is to us,” said Hauser, an employee of Conley Funeral Home in Elburn.
“My daughter-in-law was carrying triplets, and Jason was struggling early in her pregnancy, but he hung onto life until she was 28 weeks along. If he hadn’t, we probably would have lost the other two babies as well as him.”
The Hausers will gather with dozens of other area residents who have lost children at Conley Farm just west of Kaneville for a candlelighting ceremony in those children’s memory.
Sponsored by Conley Outreach, a non-profit grief therapy provider founded by the Conley family, the event is part of a nationwide memorial organized by the support group Compassionate Friends, said funeral home owner Bruce Conley. Local chapters will hold synchronized candlelighting ceremonies at 7 p.m. Sunday.
“This one night a year, it’s good to come together and remember these kids we’ve lost,” said Conley, who organized the Kaneville ceremony four years ago after losing a prospective daughter-in-law.
Participants who want to may also write their children’s names in the sky with a million-watt spotlight.
The ceremony has drawn increasing numbers of people who want to remember children in their lives who have died.
“Last year we had more than 50 people drive way out here in the country on a night with wind chills below zero,” Conley Outreach Associate Executive Director Carol Alfrey said. The candlelighting ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. at Conley Farm, 47W085 Main Street Rd. near Daubermann Road. All activities are free.