Valarie Watts was heartbroken after delivering her stillborn son, Noah, in July. While grieving, she decided to sell most of the baby items she had lovingly prepared for his arrival.
However, there was one thing she couldn’t bring herself to part with—the white crib. At a yard sale last month, retiree Gerald Kumpula noticed the crib and asked if it was for sale.
At first, Valarie hesitated, but when she learned that 75-year-old Gerald was a craftsman who repurposed old furniture into benches, she finally agreed to let it go for just two dollars.
Watts later struck up a conversation with Gerald’s wife, Lorene, who noticed baby clothes at the sale and asked about her son’s age. Valarie shared her heartbreaking story, and on the way home, Lorene relayed it to Gerald.
Deeply moved, the Kumpulas, who had 15 children and many grandchildren, felt that Watts should still have the crib in some form. A week later, they surprised her with a beautiful bench crafted from the crib.
“It’s beautiful,” Watts told TODAY.com. “There are still good people out there.”
Now, the bench sits in her living room—a space filled with memories of Noah.
“I’m so happy it’s not just sitting around doing nothing,” she said. “Now I can sit in it, cuddle his bear, and think about him when I need to.”
Watts had noticed reduced fetal movement in the final days of her pregnancy. On July 22, during a C-section, she and her fiancé, Jimi Hamblin, learned that Noah was not breathing. Doctors later determined that his umbilical cord had constricted, preventing him from getting oxygen.
Having lost their first grandchild to stillbirth, the Kumpulas understood Watts’ pain more than most.
“An empty crib is a painful reminder,” Gerald explained. “A bench feels more like a memorial—it’s still connected to that difficult moment, but it’s not an empty crib anymore.”
Gerald refused any payment for his act of kindness.
“It just feels good to help someone,” he said simply.
Watts, who works as a babysitter, is now preparing to marry Hamblin this fall. Their 7-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, also finds comfort in the presence of the bench, which sits beside a shelf holding Noah’s photos, handprints, footprints, and ashes.
“Even though he’s not here, I feel his presence when I sit on it,” Watts said. “It brings a sense of peace, like everything will be okay in the end.”