Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard continue to honor the memory of their stillborn daughter.
This year, Jill Duggar has been teasing a new project. Many fans believe that it’s a sequel to her memoir.
2024 has been eventful for Jill and for her husband. Earlier this year, they revealed that she had suffered a stillbirth.
Now, six months after that loss, Jill and Derick are memorializing the daughter who might have been.
Derick Dillard and Jill Duggar visited their stillborn daughter’s gravesite
On Wednesday, October 16, Jill Duggar took to Instagram to share a clip of herself, Derick, and their youngest son, Freddie Dillard as they selected flowers. This was not a fit of whimsy, but a bittersweet tribute.
“We just got the call that Isla’s marker is ready and it has been placed,” Jill shared on her social media page, as you can see below.
Jill then continued: “So we are gonna run over to her cemetery and go see her marker for the first time, give her some fresh flowers.”
The video, as you can see, is fairly short. We see Jill, Derick, and Freddie arrive at the cemetery. Their 2-year-old son then helps them to set the flowers by Isla’s memorial marker.
The marker itself reads: “Isla Marie Dillard, March 19, 2024. Born into the arms of Jesus.”
Then, the marker adds: “Loved & missed by her papa and mama & 3 big brothers.”
“Looks lovely,” one Instagram commenter began. “Your Little Guardian Angel always looking after you All. Sending you All hugs!”
“You picked a beautiful stone for her,” another Instagram user wrote. “25 years later and my mom and I still put flowers at my sister’s stone. Sending you all strength and love!!”
An additional commenter affirmed: “What a lovely day to celebrate your precious little lady’s life. You will see her again one day. Hugs to you all.”
In April of 2024, Jill Duggar shared that she and her family had held a funeral service following the stillbirth. Among other things, she shared a photo of a small white box.
“Isla Marie, our baby girl,” she labeled the collage of photos. “We will love you forever & hold you in our hearts until we hold you in heaven.”
Jill added: “Laid to rest 4.19.2024.” Which makes October 19 the six-year anniversary of the memorial, though not of the stillbirth itself.
Grief is a difficult thing, but it’s part of healing
This is not Jill’s first time experiencing such a loss. In 2021, before the birth of Freddie, she and Derick mourned a miscarriage, revealing that they would have named their child River Bliss.
Many people — and religions and cultures — share a wide variety of beliefs about stillbirths and miscarriages. In Jill’s case, her fundamentalist upbringing and current beliefs lead to her treating these losses as she might treat losing one of her living children, albeit one whom she has never met.
Similarly, she (and several of her commenters) believes in an afterlife in which her soul will meet these would-be children, alongside other deceased loved ones. We hope that these beliefs and the love of her family bring her comfort as she processes her grief.