The cremains of 14 people will be added to the St. Charles Township Cemetery Crypt during a non-denominational service and entombment set for 10 a.m. Thursday May 25, at the St. Charles Township cemetery, 1200 N. 5th Ave., St. Charles, according to a news release by the Kane County Coroner’s Office.

Four years ago, the Coroner’s Office facilitated the entombment of 41 unclaimed remains and several others from area funeral homes. Soon after highlighting the issue, St. Charles Township Supervisor John Arthur Anderson presented the solution: an empty, unused tomb that had already been paid for.

Originally, 47 cremains were discovered in the Kane County Coroner’s Office storage unit, but six were able to be reunited with families. The Coroner’s Office performed a second entombment ceremony in May of 2015, in which 10 more cremated remains were entombed.

The original discovery of the cremains prompted the Coroner’s Office to enlist the help of the media in hopes of uniting any of the unclaimed cremains with their next-of-kin. The story garnered international media attention and led to the claiming of remains by next of kin. In one case, 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.

Kane County Coroner Rob Russell said the third interment is needed now because state legislators are discussing terminating funds for indigent burial.

“With the state being in the condition it is in, we have to find alternatives to take care of those who are indigent,” he said. “Too many times, family members wind up walking away from the responsibility for burial. With this township partnership, some of that cost has been mitigated.”

Russell said he hopes that all Kane County townships partner with the Coroner’s Office to create similar partnerships.

Below is a list of the cremains to be entombed on May 25.

• Monty Ford — DOD 12/15/2016
• Michael Jansen — DOD 10/25/2016
• Karen Rangel — DOD 2/15/2017
• Luis Hernandez — DOD 6/21/2016
• Linda Marx — DOD 1/6/2016
• Alvin Refke — DOD 8/17/2015
• Bonnie McKinney — DOD 9/2/2015
• Howard Myers — DOD 6/15/2016
• Alicia Lemos — DOD 12/21/1961
• Vito Calabrese — DOD 1/4/2009
• Penny Calabrese — DOD 3/8/2007
• Ursula Staack — DOD 9/3/2009
• John Lundstrom — DOD 3/20/2017
• Alana Waver — DOD 3/12/2017

For more information, please contact the Kane County Coroner’s Office at 630-232-5914.

SOURCE: Kane County Coroner’s Office news release