About us
Our team
Our team consists exclusively of certified professionals with years of experience in their respective specialisms.
As the pioneer and founder of Nooit Vergeten (Never Forgotten), An Andries remains the leading expert in the preservation/ preparation for viewing of babies and children, with or without the water-based method, even after an autopsy.
Sven Ceulemans is a certified thanatopractitioner and our specialist in restorative make-up. He is also our highly skilled Master of Ceremony.
For a memorial 3D casting, you can turn to either An or Sven.
Continuing to deepen our expertise is a cornerstone of our professional approach, allowing us to remain pioneers in our field.
Together, we provide a warm and professional approach, tailoring all farewell care to your wishes.
Our mission
The gift of time
When a loving welcome becomes a farewell, we want to offer you, that what is still too often missing today:
the gift of time.
We want to give you, as parents and family, the opportunity to spend precious time with your child, and to be able to say goodbye in your own way.
Whether you choose burial or cremation, we support your choice with professional care and compassion.
We provide a personal, high-quality farewell for babies and children, and we aim to be a reliable source, not only for families, but also for healthcare professionals and colleagues in the funeral business.
Our vision - Gentle bereavement support before the final parting
Nooit Vergeten strives to bring death back into everyday conversation, so that grief and mourning can once again take their rightful place.
When a farewell can be experienced in a warm, connected way, death and loss are felt differently. Grief can then begin naturally—rooted in connection.
Parents, especially those of stillborn babies, are still too rarely given the chance to say goodbye to their child in an intimate, connected way, even though this is profoundly important.
The grief that comes with the loss of a star child is still too often left unspoken in our society. As a result, parents often bear this grief alone and hidden, while these parents and their families should be able to openly express their grief and thus weave it into their lives.
Our motto: "Everything is possible, everything is allowed, and above all, nothing is required!"
We are as flexible as possible to meet all your wishes. Siblings are especially welcome, as they too deserve support and understanding for their loss and grieving process.
A piece of history
An grew up with a remarkable black-and-white photograph in her grandmother's album.
As a young, unmarried mother during World War II, Grandma Helena lost her first child, a boy named Dominique, to Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sometimes called cot death.. Only one precious photograph would remain as the only tangible reminder of a great mystery that deeply fascinated and intrigued little An.
An was named after a prematurely born baby who passed away a few months after birth.
When Helena's younger sister gave birth to a premature baby girl, and Anneke passed away some time later, An’s mother, then only nine years old, solemnly promised her aunt that if she ever had a daughter, she would name her Anneke too. And so it happened in September 1972.
Fast-forward to 2014
On September 20, 2014, Jeannine, An's mother, died of cancer.
In her final weeks, Jeannine was cared for at home so she could pass away there, in accordance with her wishes. Together with An, she prepared her own farewell. Jeannine had firmly chosen cremation and the scattering of her ashes, so An suggested scattering them at her home in Wijgmaal and creating a special place of remembrance. A pear tree was planted so that five-year-old Finn could grow up with a lasting memory of his grandmother.
The loss of her mother led An to leave behind her career as an editor and reporter in Flemish television and to devote herself fully to the funeral sector.
In October 2015, An took her first steps in the funeral sector, working for one of the country’s largest funeral companies. There, she learned every aspect of the profession while drawing on her background in journalism to make each farewell as warm as possible—both in its words and in its visual presentation.
This experience also revealed significant gaps—and a lack of sensitivity—in the care and approach towards children, especially newborns and the very youngest.
What followed was a year of research, training, and conversations with several leading women in the field: Christine Vandenhole of Berrefonds vzw, Marleen Vertommen of Met Lege Handen vzw, the founders of Boven de Wolken vzw, the women of FARA vzw, and a number of Dutch colleagues.
On 1 May 2019, An founded Nooit Vergeten, Belgium’s first funeral service specialised exclusively in babies and children.
In the years that followed, we travelled through countless villages and towns, crematoria and cemeteries across Flanders and the Brussels-Capital Region—and even into parts of Walloon Brabant. We also invested heavily in support and close collaboration with numerous hospitals, including University Hospitals Leuven, Heilig Hart Leuven, Heilig Hart Tienen, University Hospitals Brussels, Delta Hospitals Brussels, University Hospitals Ghent, University Hospitals Antwerp, Sint-Augustinus Wilrijk, and others.
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