Crew preserved late daughter's concrete handprint during construction. Their one-line tribute left her mom sobbing
'They did that without talking to us,' Matt said, his voice breaking. 'That's good people.'
In Quincy, Illinois, a group of public works employees went beyond their job description when they found a way to protect a small but priceless piece of a family's history — a concrete handprint belonging to a little girl who passed away last year. Matt and Kristen Hanlin's home sits in a quiet cul-de-sac where their children once played in the driveway. Back in 2023, when the city poured new concrete after a round of sewer repairs, their daughters Bella and Brynlee pressed their hands into the wet surface, reported WGEM. Instead of paving over it, they chose to save the section, and later added a one-line tribute that left her mother in tears.
"She was kind of mischievous," Matt told WGEM about Bella, "For her to have her handprints in the middle of the street? She thought that was pretty cool." Four-year-old Brynlee remembered the texture best — "squishy," she said with a grin. Months after Bella passed away unexpectedly in August, another sewer project forced crews to dig up the same patch of road, putting the girls' handprints at risk. "I'm very, very sentimental," Kristen said. "To me, it means the world. To a lot of people, it's just a piece of concrete, but that's one less handprint I have of her."
Preserving that handprint was a way for Bella's parents to maintain a tangible connection with her. A 2024 Norwegian study titled "The Significance of Transitional Objects After the Death" found that families often preserve such items and treat them as "transitional objects" — comforting reminders that help families integrate grief into daily life while affirming that their loved one existed and was cherished. Parents in the study said that these physical mementos often become part of family rituals, carrying both comfort and pain.
Kristen contacted her alderman, hoping the city might be able to save the section. When the crew arrived that morning, the family hesitated to ask. "My girls were like, 'Mom, should we tell them?'" she recalled. "By the time we got outside, they had already cut out the piece with the handprints and the year," Matt said. John Schafer, Quincy's sanitation supervisor, said the crew was determined to honor that request. "They were very adamant they were going to make sure it was saved," he said. The workers placed the rescued slab on the Hanlins' driveway.
Later that day, Matt saw one of the workers walking up to the house. "He asked for our daughters," Matt said. "He wanted them to come down and put their handprints in the new concrete, just like before." The girls were thrilled, but the crew wasn't done yet. Without saying anything to the parents, they etched three simple words beneath the fresh prints: "Live Like Bella." "They did that without talking to us," Matt said, his voice breaking. "That kind of leaves me speechless. That's good, people." Kristen added, "I don't even have words for it."
Schafer later praised his team for how they handled the situation — "with class and dignity," he said. "That's really going above and beyond." For the Hanlins, the act turned cold concrete into something sacred. "It seems like such a small thing," Matt said. "But it's actually a really big deal. Bella would love it. Her sisters were everything to her, and seeing them smiling and dancing brought back those memories." The family now plans to install the saved piece of pavement permanently in their front-yard garden, and the crew was named Quincy's Team of the Month for October.
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