They died in Pierce County. Now, they’ll get a funeral though no one claims them
The remains of 171 people who died in Pierce County since 2017 have not been claimed by relatives. A public funeral Aug. 31 in Gig Harbor will memorialize and bury the dead who remain unclaimed.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s office is seeking family or friends to claim remains before the memorial, according to a news release. The names of unclaimed individuals along with the date and location of their death have been published on the county’s website.
Chaplain Dale Amundsen will officiate the service, which will begin at 11 a.m. at Haven of Rest Funeral Home. Roses will be provided to pay tribute to the dead. The people being memorialized range in age from a stillborn child to 97, according to the list of unclaimed. The average age of a person on the list is 65.
Amundsen, 68, said in an interview he has officiated similar services in King County. He was formerly the chaplain at the King County Sheriff’s Department. He said he likes to think that every life is significant.
“A life has been lived, and no matter how notable or perhaps, unnotable, it is, it’s still important that we honor life and we spend a moment,” Amundsen said.
A memorial for unclaimed remains in Pierce County hasn’t happened for two years, county spokesperson Libby Catalinich said. She said the break between services is largely due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although the county has organized services for unclaimed remains before, this will be the first time remains are being buried. In previous years, ashes were scattered in Puget Sound.
“We feel it’s the honorable thing to do is give them this last recognition and ceremony to bring dignity to their passing,” Catalinich said.
The remains will be buried in the cemetery at the Haven of Rest funeral home in Gig Harbor. Catalinich said that while each person’s remains are individually contained and marked with their death information, all of the remains will be buried in the same grave site. The site will have a general marker for individuals who died in Pierce County.
The youngest person in the group is a stillborn infant who died in October 2018 in Tacoma. The oldest is a 97-year-old woman, who died in April 2019 in Lakewood.
Details of the deaths were not released.
Family of the deceased can go to https://www.piercecountywa.gov/remembrance to check the list of unclaimed people. According to the release, friends and family looking to claim a person’s remains should contact an investigator at 253-798-6655 by Aug. 25.
The Medical Examiner’s Office doesn’t have room to hold unclaimed remains indefinitely. In some cases, relatives can’t be found for the dead, according to the release. Other times, families decline to take possession. According to previous reporting from The News Tribune, memorials for unclaimed remains started in 2014 with 23 unclaimed people, six of whom were unidentified.
