Cook County’s Nameless and Unclaimed Get Proper Burial

CHICAGO, IL -- There were flowers, holy water, prayers and respect for Cook County’s unclaimed and unknowns sent to their final rest on Wednesday afternoon.

More important there were friends: Cook County elected officials, cemetery workers, students, and representatives from the Archdiocese of Chicago and Catholic Cemeteries who gathered on a hot, summer afternoon in Mt. Olivet Cemetery for a committal service for the unclaimed and unidentified remains from the Cook County County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Confined to eight plain, wooden boxes, the gathering of strangers wanted the four unidentified adults, 34 indigent men and women, and 24 unborn children to know they were more than “Box 1” or “Box 2” scrawled on the side of the caskets.

“We want a dignified disposition for the unclaimed, indigent and unidentified remains,” said Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar. ”After 30 days, if bodies are unclaimed or the family says they do not have the funds for burial we start the indigent process. We look for next of kin if they’re available we notify them that can pick up the body, otherwise we’ll take care of the disposition”

The unborn came from hospitals, including stillborn births and miscarriages, and aborted fetal remains.

The four unknowns have been at the medical examiner’s office since 2015. The cremains of the 34 indigent persons have been held for two years to give families the chance to find the funds to bury their loved ones.

All scientific methods are employed to identify the unknowns. When that fails, an indigent coordinator, a newly created position in the medical examiner’s office, takes to Facebook and the internet to put a name behind face.

“The unidentified we have marked in case there are methods to identify them,” Dr. Arunkumar said. “If families want to claim them we’re able to exhume the bodies and give them to the families. It ensures a respectful disposition.”

The deceased that come through the medical examiner’s office have passed away from the usual manners of death. Some have died of natural causes, others are homicides and suicides.

“There is nothing that distinguishes them from other cases,” the medical examiner said. “We want to bury them in a dignified manner. They don’t have family to be able to fund the burial or they have no next of kin.”

The county has cremated identified, unclaimed deceased persons, which Dr. Arunkumar describes as a “cleaner process” for disposition. Some families request that loved ones be donated for scientific research or medical schools arranged through the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois.

Members of the Cook County Funeral Directors Association, an alliance of the county’s funeral homes, have volunteered their services to prepare the dead for burial. The association has participated in 17 indigent burial projects.

“It’s in our structure and out makeup as funeral directors to take care of everyone,” said Leonard Zielinski, president of the CCFDA. “When all this began several years ago we, as an association, stepped forward to volunteer. How can we help Cook County transfer these decedents to this cemetery ground given up by Catholic Cemeteries as a place of permanent for these individuals.”

Rev. Larry Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King Church and the associate director of Catholic Cemeteries, starts the committal service. The eight boxes sit on the rolling ground of Olivet Cemetery, marked with intake cards of the names and dates of death of the people inside.

The remains of the unknowns are identified by numbers. There are holy cards on the boxes: “You are not forgotten.” The unborn children’s box is decorated with holy cards of childlike angels and lambs.

“Our faith calls us to be of service to our neighbor and in doing so we gladly assist in caring for those we commend to the Lord this day,” Fr. Sullivan’s voice booms across the cemetery. “God’s love knows no bounds. Those we bury today are deserving of our respect, deserving of our prayers and deserving of entrance into God’s kingdom.”

After the prayers, students in blue scrubs from the Worsham College of Mortuary Science pass out daisies to place on the boxes. Fr. Sullivan moves from box to box, shaking holy water on the plain wooden caskets.

God knows they are there.