Ten more cremains will be added to the St.  Charles Township Cemetery Crypt as part of a program initiated by the Kane County Coroner’s Office. A non-denominational service and entombment is planned for 11 a.m. Friday, May 22, at the Township Cemetery, 1200 N. 5th Ave., St. Charles.

Two years ago, discovery of 47 cremains at the Coroner’s Office prompted Kane County Coroner Rob Russell to enlist the help of the media in hopes of uniting any of the unclaimed cremains with their next-of-kin.

Through that program, six families claimed the cremains of loved ones. Among them, a father was reunited with the cremains of his 2-month-old child, 26 years after his child’s sudden death. Another set of cremains was shipped halfway around the world, to be reunited with next-of-kin in Australia.

As an added blessing to this week’s entombment, one more cremain from the original list will be removed and reunited with a family member.

“My hope was that over time, additional families would come forth and claim their loved ones from the crypt,” Russell said. “If we had buried in a mass grave or spread the ashes, this would not have been a possibility.”

Soon after highlighting the problem two years ago, St. Charles Township Supervisor John Arthur Anderson presented a solution: an empty, unused tomb that had already been paid for. Thanks to the generosity of Anderson and the St. Charles Township Cemetery Board, 41 of the 47 original unclaimed cremains were laid to rest in that tomb.

Russell said state officials are discussing terminating funding support for indigent burial, so it is important to find alternatives.

“Too many times, family members wind up walking away from the responsibility for burial. In those cases, Illinois law places the county as that funding source. With this township partnership, some of that cost has been mitigated,”  Russell said. “I would like to see all the townships that have cemeteries partner with me in the future.”

SOURCE: Kane County Coroner’s Office press release