EDITORIAL: Honoring unclaimed individuals
Oct. 20—An upcoming ceremony offers our community a time to heal and a resting place for remains of 23 unclaimed individuals.
Those individuals' cremated remains rest in boxes — some with names and photos, and others without any identification.
Another box contains the remains of an unclaimed infant.
It's sad to think that any of us might become unclaimed after our death.
Our loved ones left with questions. Our stories untold. Our memories forgotten.
Rev. Janie Koch, of All Saints Episcopal Church in McAlester, said she hopes to honor those individuals with a ceremony on Nov. 2 to place the boxes in the church's columbarium.
"It's a time for McAlester and our surrounding communities for everyone to come in and have a space to put their grief, to put their trauma," Koch told us. "We're all carrying it whether we recognize it or name it — it's there."
The ceremony is open to everyone and set for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at All Saints Episcopal Church in McAlester.
Koch said she chose All Souls Day for the ceremony because of it "is for all who have died."
"It's a day that we remember them, that we honor their place in our history and our heritage," she added.
Koch said she originally spoke with officials from Bishop Funeral Home and Crematorium in McAlester about the cremation process and what happens to homeless people.
She said the funeral home kept unclaimed remains in storage — ultimately telling her about 23 unclaimed cremated remains in 23 boxes they stored.
Koch received approval from the vestry to take the boxes and place them in her church's columbarium — a structure for respectful, public storage of urns holding cremated remains.
We hope the ceremony achieves its mission to bring peace and healing in our community.
—McAlester News-Capital Editorial Board
