Unclaimed human remains are uncommon in Mid-Ohio Valley
By JEFFREY SAULTON, jsaulton@newsandsentinel.comPARKERSBURG - While many funeral homes across the country are faced with the dilemma of unclaimed remains, that is not the case in Wood County.
Joann Clark, general manager of Sunset Memorial Funeral Home and Cemetery, said that is not a problem she has faced in the Mid-Ohio Valley.
"I've been here five years and we have not had to deal with unclaimed bodies or cremains," she said. "There were none here when I arrived.
"It is a problem in more urban areas, but we don't have that problem here."
Clark said when she worked in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area it was a problem faced by many of the funeral homes. She said where she worked they had a system to intern the remains in a mausoleum.
"We labeled every urn and we placed them in a crypt, and if anyone came to claim remains, we could look up the name and we could give them the remains," she said. "There were about 200 remains there and some had been there for 50 years."
Clark said she thinks the closeness of families is the reason local funeral homes do not face that dilemma.
"Families here are too close to allow a family member to remain unclaimed," she said.
Brad McCune, funeral director at Lambert-Tatman Funeral Home, said unclaimed remains are not a problem locally.
"Right now we don't have a problem," he said. "It might be problem elsewhere, but at this time we are not storing any unclaimed remains."
David Kimes, owner of Kimes Funeral Home, said unclaimed remains have never been a problem there. He said they have one cremains unclaimed.
"There was no family to contact," he said. "There were no instruction left as to burial."
Kimes said the remains are secured waiting for the time when a family member will come forward.
Kimes said there are two other cremains they are storing.
"We're holding them until the spouse dies so they can be buried together," he said.
In the past Kimes said Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital was in charge of rotating which funeral homes would take care of unclaimed bodies.
"We haven't done that in years," he said.
Alan Parks, co owner and funeral director at Vaughan Funeral Home, said unclaimed remains are rare locally.
"We don't have any right now," he said. "We may have one every five years; I'd say in 10 years we have had three or four."
Parks said state law allows a funeral home to petition the circuit court to allow an unclaimed body to be cremated. However, he said he does not know of a funeral home taking the precedent-setting step anywhere in West Virginia.
Jon Leavitt, co-owner of Leavitt Funeral Services, said funeral directors are reluctant to take that step for one reason.
"If a family member would come to claim the remains several years later, they will not be able to claim the body since it is no longer there," he said. "If we bury the body at a cemetery, the body can remain or it can disinterred and buried where the family desires."
Leavitt said funeral homes will take steps to make sure unclaimed bodies are buried properly.
"Typically the funeral homes will step up with the help of the county and state to see they are all buried," he said.
Leavitt said the burial can be at any number of cemeteries. He added they may also be buried at the county-owned cemetery at Cedar Grove.
Parks said in the case of an indigent person's death, the embalming and burial is paid by the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
McCune said the West Virginia Code chapter 6-1-25 is very specific on the procedure to be followed.
For unclaimed bodies the code says if a funeral home made legitimate attempts to contact family without success within 12 hours, a funeral home may have the body embalmed after 12 hours pass. It also says the funeral home must make a record of the attempts to make contact.
If a funeral home has made attempts to contact the family and has reason to believe the body could be infected with a contagious or communicable disease, the body may be embalmed prior to the end of the 12-hour period and with certification. Records must be kept of the information.
For cremated remains state code says the family must be contacted by certified mail after 60 days. In the letter they must be informed the remains are unclaimed and additional instructions are needed regarding their release.
After 30 more days a certified letter must be sent again including a statement the funeral home may dispose of the remains in 90 days if unclaimed. Under the law the disposal must be burial or entombment. Common graves may be used provided the funeral homes has a disclosure for unclaimed cremated remains.
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WVCommissioner
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10-05-08 1:04 PM
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My dad said, "If you live long enough, you outlive your friends." It is very important for everyone to have a Will, even if you don't have much money or possessions or those to give it to, you can at least spell out your final wishes.
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ren26101
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10-05-08 11:10 AM
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How sad. To think there are people with no1 to claim they even know them. I cannot imagine being that lonely! :(
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