Box labeled `grandma's urn' left at Goodwill store.

Beaver County Times ^ | 6-10-11 | STAFF

[Mikey_1962]

State police in Michigan are trying to find who left what appear to be a grandmother's cremated remains in an urn at a Goodwill store near Flint.

Fenton Goodwill store manager Allen Ryckman says "it's got to be the No. 1 or No. 2 weirdest item" the store has ever received. He says it appears to have come from a house that was cleaned out.

The Flint Journal says store workers found the box just before Easter.

The box has the label "grandma's urn." The cream-colored urn is about 10 inches tall and weighs about 10 pounds. It doesn't have any identifying marks or label.

[Mikey_1962]

Reminds me of Angela's Ashes.

[afraidfortherepublic]

How sad.

[Nickname]

I read the article but it doesn’t explain why the police are involved in this.

Improper disposal of remains or some such, or are they trying to be helpful?

[Sacajaweau]

Like my daughter said....I don't want to see your ashes on my mantel. And she's absolutely right.

Be kind to your children. Saver all the happy pictures for them!!

[La Lydia]

Sic transit gloria. How very poignant.

[Venturer]

Went to a dirt track motorcycle race once. Some fan had requested his ash’s be scattered around the track.

Tow guy get on a bike with the ash’s and start dumping hem. They went around fine but they ddint get the ash’s scattered very evenly,and when they came in front of the stands the still had a lort left and they just dumped them.

It just so happened that day that a strong wind was blowing towards the stands . The ash’s came out in a black mist blew ino the stand and covered the spectators. You could see the handkerchiefs coming out and the ash’s of the fan being wiped off of faces. I was in the pits luckily and I am ashamed to admit-—LMAO.

[Garden Mama]

My friend was spreading her husband’s ashes in the river when a group of ducks came quacking out of the underbrush and started eating the ashes. It really wasn’t funny at the time but later the tune “Grandma got run over by a reindeer” kept running through my head. With a few word changes of course!

[momtothree]

I never thought it was a good idea to keep one’s ashes. I understand that some people want to keep part of a loved one near them but at some point... what happens to the ashes/urn? Family members pass on and either no one takes the ashes or they are donated/thrown away. Just my opinion.

[Sacajaweau]

They can be placed in a vault at our cemeteries. Cost is reasonable.

[momtothree]

My uncle recently died and the urn was buried at the cemetery. I have also seen the vault with smaller slots/spaces (not sure of the right word). Have we gotten away from the term “proper burial”? By that, I mean there use to be more respect for someone who was deceased. I can’t get over someone’s remains going to a thrift store.

[N. Theknow]

I can’t get over someone’s remains going to a thrift store.

My wife might want her cremains scattered at a shoe store during a sale.

[YellowRoseofTx]

My parents wanted to be creamated and the ashes of whoever went first to be held until the other one passed away. Then they wanted to be buried together in the same grave. Mother died first, and dad kept her ashes. When he died 5 years later I was in charge of both. I buried them as requested.

However, the state and county are all different about rules and laws about how ashes can be buried. Luckily, they wanted in the old family cemetery and there was no problem with their request. They have one marker with both names, and a dad's military foot marker at the foot of the grave.

[momtothree]

“My wife might want her remains scattered at a shoe store...”

That is funny!!!

[Opinionated Blowhard]

He says it appears to have come from a house that was cleaned out.

This points out one of the biggest problems with being cremated and wanting to have the urn at your spouse's or children's home. After a while, they die or move or just plain don't want it anymore. And what the heck is someone going to do with it? I bet a lot of urns simply get thrown in the garbage when the surviving spouse dies.

[tet68]

I can’t get over someone’s remains going to a thrift store.

Daddy rides with me every where I go, in the glove box.
Kind of comforting really.

[momtothree]

I guess the only point that bothers me totally is that no future plans are made for Grammy, Daddy etc... I would worry if I didn’t have a set plan like “when I pass make sure so and so is buried, scattered, whatever...”. I know that some families are different. For example, I recently went to an “antique” store and I saw old family photos, wedding pictures, etc... I thought to myself that many families argue over who gets possession of family items but not so.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I am not sure what others may think, but I think it is cool! I can see how it is comforting.

(But does it qualify you for the HOV lane?)

[A_perfect_lady]

I bought a pretty blue urn for my own ashes, you know, someday. I told my family, “Dump me in there, it’ll make it easy to tote me back across the country (I live far from my family) and one day, when you’re ready, dump the ashes in a nice place. Garden, field, pretty spot near the river, whatever. Then you can use the urn for someone else’s ashes. It’ll be the family urn!” My family has a practical (and slightly morbid) slant to it, so they were like, “Oh, cool.”

[DJ MacWoW]

I have my Mother’s ashes. She has a grave plot in Ohio. I’m not in Ohio. $800 just to open the grave. I’d bury her if I had the money and a car that runs so I could get there. Sometimes it’s just not possible.

[Buckeye McFrog]

If you are going to be cremated I think your remains should then be interred at a cemetery or mausoleum. People I have known who kept their spouse’s ashes in an urn were generally the type who could just not let go. Psychologically it always struck me as really, really unhealthy.