Finally at rest: Ceremony held to honor unclaimed remains

One by one, the names of the dead were read aloud.

Each had been a life. Men and women, of all different ages, their backgrounds and circumstances had all been different. They had shared the same ending, though, in death. Their remains had been cremated, but they were unclaimed, contained at a local funeral home rather than in a proper grave.

At last, they had been placed to rest.

Spearheaded by He Knows Your Name ministry, in partnership with Indiana Funeral Care, the nearly 200 unclaimed cremated adult remains were honored in a memorial service at Mt. Pleasant Greenwood Cemetery on Wednesday. About 20 community members gathered to pray for the deceased and memorialize them with a meaningful service.

They — like all people —deserved it, said Linda Znachko, founder of He Knows Your Name.

“Let’s celebrate life from birth to death and to the grave, and everything in between,” she said.

The goal was to give the deceased dignity in death. But at the same time, Znachko and all involved hoped to shine a light on the need for increased attention to unclaimed cremated remains at funeral homes in Indiana.

“We gather today and stand here today as a gathering because we have courage. I want you to be courageous to everyone you tell that what we did mattered, and because you came, they might think differently about their worth, their honor and who they should be honoring,” Znachko said. “This is a matter of humanity.”

On Wednesday, attendees gathered around the fresh dirt of a gravesite to pay their respects. Potted lilies and colorful bouquets were arranged around the site, where Znachko stood at a podium.

Solemn-faced members of the community stood around her with their hands clasped and their heads bowed.

Znachko spoke about the importance of honoring these adults, how every life is special to God, and how our own lives can be changed by being at the service that day. There was inspirational gospel music, group prayer, and, as a finale, the release of doves into the sky.

The ceremony was another step in providing dignity in death to all people.

“We are proud to honor the lives of the nearly 200 unclaimed and honor them in death in partnership with He Knows Your Name,” said Sara Thompson, general manager of Indiana Funeral Care. “An issue long overlooked, we encourage other funeral homes to have a plan to honor their unclaimed cremated remains.

“We are grateful for the leadership of He Knows Your Name in helping us lay these individuals to rest today.”

For the past 15 years, Znachko had been called to ensure everyone receives honor and dignity in death. She founded He Knows Your Name in 2009 to provide that final rest to babies who had died but were unclaimed. Working tirelessly ever since to raise money, she has worked with funeral homes, government leaders and more to provide that for 52 babies.

But she never considered expanding that honor to adults until recently, she said.

“It was not in my vision at all. But I became aware of it, initially, through the Marion County Coroner’s Office,” she said. “They were getting ready to move into their new building, and they said, ‘We have all of these unclaimed here, in our basement, and we can’t take them with us.’ It’s awful, it just ripped my gut.”

Znachko’s work through He Knows Your Name had forged a close bond with David Ring, owner of Indiana Funeral Care. Ring had been a partner since 2009, and when Znachko approached him about honoring adults, Indiana Funeral Care was on board.

The work of providing burial for those unclaimed adults has been arduous and time-consuming. Znachko worked with the Marion County Coroner’s Office, in addition to spending countless hours at the Indiana Statehouse to ensure honoring those unclaimed remains would be legal.

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Through it all, Znachko kept her focus on the goal.

“It was a massive undertaking and a huge financial investment by my foundation. But I wanted to do it because I wanted to teach other coroner’s offices how it could be done,” she said. “That’s what is happening — I’m helping people get started.”

He Knows Your Name has continued to work with coroner’s offices in Marion and Hamilton counties, as well as cemeteries all over Indiana. They’ve tried to find creative ways to fund the burial of unclaimed adults, while educating others about taking on the project themselves.

It is important for individuals to recognize that plans must be made for the pick-up and final disposition of cremated loved ones, Znachko said. At the same time, there’s a great need for funeral homes to have plans in place for unclaimed cremated remains to ensure all lives are dignified and honored in death.

“We are hopeful this encourages other funeral homes to create a plan to lay to rest their unclaimed decedents,” Znachko said.

“I call to action and invite other funeral home owners to finish the job, and take their unclaimed, bury them and honor them, give them a headstone,” Znachko said. “I want families to claim, to do their job, and go back and pick up.”