Funeral Home to Nearly 100 Families: Uh, Hello?

An Iowa funeral home is calling on families to pick up the unclaimed cremated remains of nearly 100 people that it has been keeping in a locked closet for years, some since the mid-1990s, the AP reports. Lanae Strovers, of Hamilton's Funeral Home in Des Moines, told TV station KCCI that she has been trying to reach the families for two years and has had some success, making arrangements for 200 sets of the ashes. But the funeral home is still trying to make arrangements for 91 others.

She says in the immediate aftermath of a death, some families aren't emotionally ready to take home a loved one's remains and eventually forget to pick them up. Others mistakenly think another family member picked them up. Remains that aren't claimed in the coming weeks will be buried during a mass service on Sept. 26 at Avon Lake Cemetery. (The husband of an El Paso victim saw hundreds attend her funeral. Then one came for his car.)