EAST LAMPETER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The unclaimed cremated remains of about 50 people will be buried in Lancaster County on Wednesday. They all have names, but no one has come forward to claim them.
A family donated a gravesite at the Mellinger Mennonite Cemetery in East Lampeter Township as the final resting place for them.
Noah Zimmerman, the cemetery's caretaker, said, "They will be buried in individual urns but all in one vault."
Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said he didn't want to do the burial anonymously or co-mingle the remains. He is asking for family members of the deceased to come forward to claim their loved ones.
Some of the bodies were cremated more than 15 years ago.
Diamantoni said, "The number of cremated remains sadly have been increasing steadily over that 15 year period of time. And the numbers have actually sharply increased over the last year."
Families may not have the resources to bury their loved ones or didn't have a good relationship with the deceased person.
Zimmerman said, "To think someone wouldn't care. That is sad."
On Wednesday there will be a ceremony for those unclaimed remains.
Diamantoni said, "Each of those decedents will be individually recognized at the time of the ceremony."
The coroner said no matter what happens, they will get a proper burial.
He said, "I think it's important people have lived lives -that their lives have meaning and their lives are acknowledged, and that people are buried with the dignity and the respect that each and every one of us deserves."
This is the list of names of the deceased:
Carl Haubert, 66, Oct. 4, 2008
Robert McKinney, 81, Feb. 10, 2008
Lemke Tollefson, 71, Oct. 22, 2008
Robert Newcomer, 55, June 26, 2008
Glen Vincent, 65, Dec. 29, 2008
Amos J. Weiant, 93, March 2, 2008
Jeffrey Miller, 51, Nov. 3, 2008
Joseph Habacker, 81, June 27, 2008
Randy Ahrendsen, 57, Nov. 2, 2009
Mikhail V. Petukhov, 57, June 10, 2009
Cecelio A. Mercado, 54, Feb. 21, 2009
Alexander Mobley, 58, Jan. 1, 2009
Leroy Long, 60, Nov. 6, 2010
Sharon Strach, 59, Aug. 12, 2010
Gene A. Padilla, 72, Jan. 29, 2010
William R. Neiman, 60, Feb. 16, 2010
Debra Ann Thompson, 62, May 6, 2010
Sarah Miller, 68, July 16, 2011
Marian V. Hartzell, 82, Jan. 27, 2011
George Koukoulis, 47, April 28, 2011
John D. Carr, 65, July 22, 2011
James Harrison, 67, Dec. 13, 2011
Edward L. Peterson, 65, Jan. 3, 2012
Charles Hager, 71, May 2, 2012
Donald L. Bachman, 72, Feb. 3, 2012
Alonzo Williams, 52, April 18, 2012
Clarence J. Beamer, 76, April 21, 2012
William H. Mitchell, 71, Aug. 14, 2012
Robert Watt, 65, June 13, 2013
Henry T. Hansen, 54, Feb. 19, 2013
Yvonne E. Yohe, 74, March 13, 2013
Jose Sicairos Jimenez, 54, June 4, 2013
Robert Adams, 54, July 24, 2013
John W. Sanders, 85, Feb. 13, 2014
Anthony St. George-Reid, 63, Feb. 22, 2014
Linda Ream, 62, March 11, 2014
Lloyd S. Ashby, 68, April 14, 2014
Irving Luna, 54, Aug. 23, 2014
Mary A. Polson, 55, Oct. 5, 2014
Gloria (Gina) Trainor, 54, Oct. 15, 2014
Bruce James Hartzall, 64, Jan. 8, 2014
Timothy W. Rhodes, 57, Nov. 22, 2014
Gloria A. Freeman, 92, Jan. 3, 2015
Stella Watlington, 74, Feb. 7, 2015
Larry Ziegler, 59, March 25, 2015
Gerald Rameckers, 93, March 30, 2015
Troy G. Jordan, 50, May 25, 2015
Douglas Leeper, 61, June 29, 2012