By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A burial service for three individuals who have died in Lewis County with no relatives to claim them is set for 11 a.m. tomorrow at Pioneer Cemetery in Chehalis.
The public is welcome to attend.
The Lewis County Coroner’s Office underwent a renewed effort last year to find family members of those whose cremated remains had long sat atop a file cabinet at their office. Fourteen sets of unclaimed remains were then placed in a plot at Claquato Cemetery near Adna.
Tomorrow, a short ceremony will be held in the parking lot at Pioneer prior to the inurnment of three more, according to the coroner’s office.
“Even though these folks do not have families to claim them they deserve to have a respectful final resting place and this is our chance to provide that,” Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod stated in a news release.
One of the individuals is a 49-year-old transient person from California, who died in a Centralia motel this summer, McLeod said. He said he tried and simply could not locate any relatives. Families of the other two elected not to claim them, he said.
They died of natural causes, except for the reason for the death of 52-year-old James Sprague could not be determined. Sprague’s body was discovered at Riffe Lake near Mossyrock in July 2010, months after the Denver man’s vehicle turned up some 30 miles away while authorities in Colorado were seeking him in connection with the slaying of his girlfriend.
Tomorrow’s burial is made possible through the generosity of the cemetery owner, John Panesko. Pioneer Cemetery was founded in the late 1800s as a Masonic cemetery and was known for some time as Greenwood Cemetery, according to McLeod.
It is located at 2000 Jackson Highway; parking is available across the street at the Chehalis Eagles. The actual burial will take place after the gathering ends.
The following are those being remembered:
• Manabu Ishikawa, 49, from Grass Valley, California. Died in Centralia in June 2013
• James Ross, 65, from Onalaska. Died in Onalaska in February 2013.
• James Sprague, 52, from Denver, Colorado. Found deceased in July 2010 in Mossyrock.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
So lost is the value of ones life, and soul. It is so hard to wrap my mind around the idea of being alone at this phase~ RIP