A Virginia woman has traced her beginnings to the Cleveland area thanks to the help of the historical researcher for Fairview Park.
"I always felt I was somewhere out here,” said Pearl Marshall. “Everybody else was part of this big, beautiful family tree, but I was kind of out here. And every time I find one of these little pieces, it brings me closer and closer to being connected.”
For a long time, Pearl didn’t feel rooted in her past.
“Because I haven’t had a story,” she said.
Her beginning was unknown. Until those little pieces started falling into place.
Pearl discovered she is “Baby Westgate.” A story that grabbed headlines more than 50 years ago in Cuyahoga County.
All the pieces started falling into place after Pearl connected with Chris Gerrett, who helped her uncover a 53-year-old mystery.
However, one big question remains: Who was Pearl’s birth mother?
Pearl hopes to answer that question by sharing this story. That by hearing the details and her plea, new information may come to light and ultimately lead to Pearl’s dream of meeting her birth mother.
THE BEGINNING
It was 1972, a beautiful baby girl with big blue eyes was adopted in Cleveland.
"They had been trying for a while to have children and were unsuccessful,” Pearl said about her adopted parents. “So, when the opportunity came to pick me up, they were overjoyed!”
The family stayed in Cleveland for a time before moving out of state.
Pearl grew up happy and creative. She loved doing arts and crafts. She loved playing outside, and she enjoyed many family trips.
Pearl was a Girl Scout.
She became a music teacher.
And she fell in love with and married a man named Jack, who, like her, was also born and adopted in Ohio.
THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Pearl and Jack sent for, and received, their original birth certificates when the state of Ohio recently opened some previously closed adoption records.
However, unlike Jack’s, Pearl’s included no names.
"It was a foundling report,” said Pearl. “A Jane Doe certificate. It says, ‘Jeanne Westgate.’” (We will revisit the significance of that name later)
Pearl recalled something her mother had shared with her years prior, when she was college age.
It was a hunch she had but could never prove. Information she wanted to share with Pearl when the time was appropriate.
"My adopted mom had a feeling right away that I was the baby from the article,” said Pearl.
Back in Cleveland, her mother remembered reading an article about a newborn baby who was found in a parking lot.
The birth certificate listed Pearl’s place of birth as Westgate Shopping Center.
Pearl and Jack searched online and found a brief newspaper report titled: “Abandoned Baby Found at Plaza.”
Her mother’s hunch appeared to be correct…
THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS
The couple initially emailed police in Rocky River, but Westgate Shopping Center is in neighboring Fairview Park, which is how the request was forwarded to that city’s historical researcher, Chris Gerrett.
“The subject line just was ‘Records Search,’” said Gerrett.
Gerrett finds and puts little pieces into place.
“I don’t golf,” she said. “I don’t travel. This is what I do for fun!”
Gerrett was immediately intrigued by the story and the request for help.
"It just said that she’s hoping to find any information on the incident that she could,” said Gerrett.
She got to work.
She found no surviving police report, but did find more news articles with more details.
"This is where it talks about the baby being dressed in a yellow outfit and wrapped in a blue blanket,” said Gerrett about one article.
Gerrett identified two people she wanted to track down: two young women in their early twenties who had found the baby.
"The downside was they didn’t use the right last names for one of the women,” said Gerrett.
She searched property records, school records, and probate records.
Eventually, finding a phone number for an adult son.
"I called him,” said Gerrett. “It must’ve been 8 o’clock at night, and told him I was looking for a couple women who found an abandoned baby at Westgate in the ‘70s, and fingers crossed he didn’t think he was talking to some lunatic and hang up on me! It was dead silent, and after a very long pause, he said, ‘My mother told me that story years ago.’”
She then connected with the second woman.
"We started communicating by email, and she was able to provide photographs of the baby at the hospital,” said Gerrett. “So, what are the odds I have the two wrong people… pretty damn slim! So, I’ve got the right people!”
WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT
Aug. 20, 1972.
A summer Sunday fading fast.
Two young women, friends from work, were about to find something they never expected.
"It was late,” recalled Rita Marshall. “It got dark already.”
The women were leaving the movie theater at Westgate Shopping Center in Fairview Park.
“I was going to unlock the car door,” said Marshall.
They noticed a shopping cart pushed up against the front driver’s side of their car, and there was a paper bag inside.
"The bag was rustling,” recalled Darlene Gilleland.
"I had to get in close because it was dark,” said Marshall. “And I saw her little face, and I said, ‘Darlene, it’s a baby, it’s a baby!’ and she came running over.”
"The bag was folded over, and her hands were out,” remembered Gilleland. “She was immaculate. She was perfect!”
They called police and stayed with the baby girl all the way to Fairview Hospital, where she was examined and given the name Jeanne Westgate.
While the last name is self-explanatory, Jeanne was the name of the nurse who cared for her at the hospital.
The baby girl was described as just a few hours old and in good health.
She was soon released to child services and eventually adopted.
More than 50 years later, Gilleland and Marshall never forgot.
Marshall saved all the news articles and photos from that time and pulls them out occasionally.
"I’ve always thought about her,” said Marshall. “Wondered how she was. What she was doing.”
“I would think of her quite often,” said Gilleland.
It was Gilleland's son whom Gerrett had contacted. She said her children grew up knowing the story of Baby Westgate.
"People say it was a miracle that we found her, but I don’t see it that way,” said Gilleland. “I think we were in the right place at the right time.”
THE REUNION
Time is funny; 53 years later, and some might say what happened this past summer was a miracle.
"There were a lot of tears, a lot of talking, a lot of laughing, and a lot of hugging,” said Gerrett.
Thanks to Gerrett, all the women were able to connect and reunite in Fairview Park.
Gilleland and Marshall still live locally in Northeast Ohio.
"I said, ‘I feel like our long-lost baby has come home,’” said Marshall with a smile.
The women embraced and shared in the awe of the moment.
“This is all a miracle,” said Gilleland. “It’s all I keep saying.”
The women also returned to the spot where they found Pearl all those decades ago.
The movie theater is gone, but the shopping center remains. That exact spot is now behind a Lowe’s store.
"We always felt like someone was watching to make sure we found you,” said Marshall and Gilleland.
"It’s hard to really wrap your head around you know, for me, it’s almost like somebody else’s story,” said Pearl.
Marshall and Gilleland said the reunion brought a sense of closure.
“I won’t forget the day that we found her,” said Gilleland. “And I won’t forget the day that we found her again!”
WHAT’S NEXT
While much has been discovered, one big piece remains a mystery: Pearl still knows nothing about her mother.
"I cry for her,” said Pearl. “I think about how desperate she must have been. How scared she must have been. How few choices she had. What could she have done? So, if I had the chance to reach out to her, I would want to tell her that it’s OK. That everything worked out fine. That she did the best she could. It’s OK.”
Pearl said her adopted parents are supportive of her journey to learn more about her past, including her hope to learn more about her birth mother and possibly even meet her.
But right now, Pearl said she is grateful.
"You never know how things are put together to bring you to this moment right here,” she said.
Grateful for the bigger picture coming into focus.
"I feel a greater and greater connectiveness to the rest of humanity,” she said.
She now feels more rooted in her beginning and in the life she has today.
"There were so many people who made an effort, and it’s wonderful to be connected to them.”
Pearl has found and connected with her biological father through genetic testing and says she has enjoyed getting to know him and his family. However, she is still looking for her biological mother.
Pearl has established an email address should someone like to reach out with more information about her story or the search for her mother: babywestgate1972@gmail.com
