B-A students to participate in Respect for Life March in Tyrone

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File photo

The memorial shrine for Baby Agnes Doe at Oak Grove Cemetery is the destination of this Sunday’s Respect for Life March.

This Sunday, January 18, the St. Gregory Council of the Knights of Columbus in Tyrone, is holding the annual Respect for Life March starting at St. Matthew’s Church.

Many BA students participate in the march, including several from Bellwood’s St. Joseph’s church.

“It’s nice to see so many young people participating,” said Pete Kreckel, one of the event’s organizers from the St. Gregory Council.

The march is in honor of Baby Agnes Doe. Although the walk is fun, the back story is not as loving.

On February 5, 1987 the partial remains of a baby were found in a plastic bag in the yard of a home on Kerbaugh Road in Antis Township.

The baby had been disposed of in the woods where a dog had found her, according to police. An autopsy was administered and determined the baby was a white female infant. However her exact cause of death was never determined.

Months later, the Tyrone Knights of Columbus gave the child a proper burial.  The Knights of Columbus named her Agnes, after the Roman Catholic Saint Agnes. On June 20, 1987, Baby Agnes was buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Tyrone.

You can read a full story on Baby Agnes Doe here.

Ever since then, each year the Respect for Life Walk has been held. It starts at St Matthew Church in Tyrone and goes 1.25 miles  to Baby Agnes’ grave, followed by  food back at St Matthew’s parish hall.