Woman's ashes have been kept at a currency exchange for years

"I'm not going to live forever," says the man who runs the currency exchange and has had the ashes for eight years. "What's going to happen to that bag? I tell people and they laugh at me, and ask, 'Why don't you toss it away?' Well, what if that was your mother? What if that was your daughter? I just couldn't do that." (Chicago Sun-Times)

Comments

[zzz]

can i get change for a 20?

[G-Man]

Holy moly Jim. That was really depressing. Everyone in the article has a sad story. Poor woman dies of an asthma attack. The husband is lonely and homeless. And then the guy who runs the currency exchange by himself has only taken one day off since 1973! I think I'm going to crawl under my desk and cry now.

[kestrelmas]

I'm with G-Man... :(

[Elroy]

I am with Kestreimas & G-man... :(

[MONKEY JERK]

I DID NOT REALIZE THERE WAS A VALUE ON ASHES.

[Jim Romenesko]

That meets my quota of one depressing story a day. Now you can read about the sex columnist and cheer up a bit.

[RockyMtnMac]

Why can't they bury them somewhere? Have a nice little service and call it a day.
I'm with you guys...

[troschne]

Why don't her POS kids take them--that would be the right thing to do. Hopefully, one of them will see the article and claim her remains. The currency exchange guy sounds like really good people to me!

[KC]

I'd consider it terribly rash
To dispose of the poor woman's ash-
Es her husband has left
In my care. I'm bereft --
I just can't put them out in the trash!

[Phranqlin]

I'm with RMM. Doesn't the city have a "potter's field" cemetary where indigent people like this poor lady can be buried?

[USMerc]

wow...Even I can't think of a crass thing to say about anyone in the story...I'm with G-Man, kestralmas, elroy, and RMM...

[lynn]

bummer...
if no one wants her now, i hate to think how her family treated her when living.

they should take her and have a little memorial service for her somewhere quiet and pretty.

[cherie]

This story is heart-warming and tragic all at the same time. What a wonderful guy to be so dedicated to his business and the people that visit him there. How lovely that he kept this woman's ashes for so long. And how great that the reporter took the time to look up the woman's past and write the article.
Tragic what happened to the husband. I agree with Lynn that they should have a memorial service for her somewhere. Makes me wonder WTF is up with her adult children that they didn't do more.

[Reno]

Currency guy should have just taken the ashes home years ago. Then his kids could keep her around with his remains until they ultimately die and the grand kids inherit them. And so on. Eventually no one will know or care whose ashes belong with what name and the whole lot of 'em will end up in the landfill. What a pity.

[merkin4]

When I worked at a cemetary, this was always the most depressing job a person could get. The office would get a box via UPS, and some unlucky chump would get the assignement to go bury it. Sometimes, there would be a plot and headstone, and then the ashes would get buried in a shallow hole just under the headstone. Sometimes there wouldn't be a marker of any kind, so we'd take the post-hole auger (think of a giant drill bit), make a hole about three feet deep, and drop the box in with the UPS tracking stickers and all. Then we'd pack the dirt back in and be on our way. I'd always get a little curious about what kind of person this was we were putting into eternal rest - first date? did they ever get fired? fall asleep in church? abuse their kids? What kind of person would you have to be where nobody bothers to hold a funeral? What kind of family would you have to raise where nobody even shows up to pray for your soul, or for the people you've left behind?

It's a thought that haunts me to this day - that I should live so at least somebody would notice when I've shuffled off this mortal coil.

[NitroPress]

I'd bet the kids don't know she's sitting around.

My grandmother remarried and because her new husband took control of their lives (typical for the 1950s) the family lost track of her except for occasional contact. When she died, he sold or gave away all of her stuff, including multi-generational treasures of no particular value to anyone else.

It happens. The kids may think the new husband has things under control, or have no idea what's happened in the last 5-6 years.

[Navy Chief]

Find out where she liked to hang out or some place that was special to her and spread her ashes there. Me, I'm getting shot off an aircraft carrier catapult. :-)

My wife used to be a substitue mail carrier. After we got a national cemetery in town, she used to deliver lots of small packages. Eww.