27 people died homeless recently. This chaplain thinks they at least deserve a service
Ed Jacobs knows death well.
He confronts it regularly. As a volunteer certified chaplain with the Tacoma Fire Department and the Nativity House homeless shelter downtown, it’s his job to comfort the grief-stricken during moments of profound tragedy and loss.
But what happens when someone dies and no one stops to take notice? When there are no friends and family by their side, and — in some cases — no one to notify?
What happens when it’s 27 people? It’s a question that’s consumed Jacobs recently.
To understand why, first, let’s back up.
Earlier this year, Jacobs had a conversation with one of his Tacoma Fire superiors who had been dispatched to a call at a local homeless encampment. A woman living at the encampment had died, Jacobs learned, and his boss wondered if he might know her from his work at Nativity House.
“He told me her name, and I thought I remembered who she was. When I checked with the folks at Nativity House, it turned out she had been a guest there for about six months,” Jacobs recalled.
“The other realization was that Nativity House had no idea she was dead.”
For Jacobs, a 67-year-old former telecommunications professional turned pastor in retirement, the revelation didn’t sit well. Working with the homeless at Nativity House — where he performs church services on Sundays and often serves as an unofficial counselor — he already knew how forgotten and ignored those staying at the shelter could feel. He recalled the first service he conducted, when, during a break in his sermon, a woman bluntly asked him: “Why are you doing this?” When he replied with the first thing that came to his mind — “Because I love you.” — several people broke down into tears.
If someone experiencing homelessness dies and no one really notices, Jacobs thought, then the fears he regularly helps people staying at the shelter grapple with are true: They have been forgotten.
That’s why, on Sunday, Sept. 26 at People’s Park in Tacoma, Jacobs will hold the first of what he says will be many public memorials for homeless people who have recently died in Pierce County. As a chaplain, Jacobs applied for and was granted permission to receive death information from the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office and Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. The first memorial will focus on names he received from the two agencies recorded during months of June and July — 27 in all.
Jacobs provided the list to The News Tribune. Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department spokesperson Kenny Via confirmed the names Jacobs received from the agency are all listed in the health department database as either “homeless,” “no address” or “unknown.” Pierce County deputy medical examiner Dr. Tim Williams issued a similar confirmation.
“Based on the information we had at the time their deaths were reported, we designated them as homeless, and they all remain so designated now,” Williams said.
While Jacobs acknowledged that the disturbing number is likely inexact — and there’s a chance some of the people on his list might not have been homeless in a traditional sense — he says it’s far too many people to potentially die in anonymity.
He’s hoping that public memorials, which he plans to hold at People’s Park either monthly or bi-monthly in the future, will help change that.
“It’s something I think that I’m called to do. If we were in a Baptist church, this would be something that God would want us to do, and I agree,” Jacobs said. “I think that when He says, ‘Take care of the weakest and the people that are unable to take care of themselves,’ this is part of it.”
Mike Yoder is the executive director of Associated Ministries, a nonprofit that provides homeless support services, rapid rehousing and manages the county’s coordinated entry system. Yoder said the number of names on Jacob’s list stunned him. He called it “shocking” and “tragically high.”
Yoder also said that even one person dying without shelter is too many. He hopes public memorials will draw attention to what he describes as an escalating crisis.
“A roof over your head doesn’t qualify you for that final act of dignity at the end of your life, and we cannot let people be forgotten,” Yoder said. “I think it is essential that we as a community remember and honor every single life that is lived among us, and those who lived among us without shelter deserve no less remembrance — and no less dignity in their passing — than any other person.”
Jacobs said his aspirations are modest.
He’s not sure how many people will attend the public memorial, but he’s certain that each of the people on his list will get the moment of recognition they deserve.
“If only 10 people show up, it doesn’t matter. We remembered the 27 people who have died,” Jacobs said.
“It’s important for the homeless community to realize that they’re not forgotten,” he added, “and important for people to realize that our society — the way we built it — is letting these people go unnoticed.”
Homeless Memorial
▪ A gathering to remember 27 people who died homeless in Pierce County in June and July.
▪ People’s Park, 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma
▪ Sunday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m.
This story was originally published September 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
