Amid a sea of graves marked with individual names and messages of love at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Renton, there is one that reads, “Gone but not forgotten, these people of Seattle, June 2012.”
This single epitaph represents 154 individuals, 122 men and 32 women, whose remains were never claimed.
On a cloudy afternoon June 13, each was cremated and placed in an urn marked with the deceased’s name, as part of the King County Medical Examiner’s Indigent Remains Program.
The memorial, which occures roughly every two years, recognizes and celebrates the lives of individuals who can be considered invisible in life and forgotten in death, the indigent and homeless.
Greg Hewett, an administrator with the medical examiner’s office, said the involvement of the spiritual community sets the program apart from similar ones around the state and country.
“[The Medical Examiner’s Office] isn’t alone in this,” he said. “This is unlike any other community I have seen handle the indigent program.”
Linda Smith of the Church of Mary Magdalene said the memorial is important because it offers a final remembrance for individuals who have passed and closure for those left behind.
It is also about learning from the deceased and understanding the context of their struggles in life.
Tammy Ray, wheel representative, said the Seattle Women in Black group holds candlelight vigils every time a homeless person dies outside or by violence in King County. Since 2010, 108 homeless people have died in the county, according the medical examiner. All too often, she said, the vigil is the only memorial for a deceased homeless person.
“We pray,” she said during her address. “We commit ourselves to the value of each person, that no one die forgotten. And ultimately, no one die homeless.”
The annual budget from the King County Medical Examiner to run the program and biennual event is $160,000. Another $25,000 comes from community contributions, some of which is from local religious organizations.
About 30 people showed up to recognize those lost, and almost as many media onlookers came to film, photograph and report on the ceremony, which was led by staff from the Medical Examiner’s Office and local spiritual leaders dressed in everything from traditional robes to street clothes.
One mourner insisted the names of the 154 deceased be read aloud. Several names sparked moans from gatherers. Most were greeted with silence.
Hewett said in past years names were not read because there were too many. The list often includes several hundred people.
This does not necessarily mean there were fewer indigent deaths since the last memorial service than in past years; the event was held earlier in the year than normal, he said.
It’s good to read the names, Hewett said. It is important to note these were individual people.
The service lasted an hour, interrupted only by sporadic raindrops and the occasional “amen” from the crowd. In that time, nine religious leaders from various denominations each took their turn leading a prayer and blessing.
One of them, Rev. Rick Reynolds, said this year’s ceremony hit closer to home.
“This time takes on a different meaning when you know some of the folks buried here,” he said during his address. “We must value each person in life and in death.”
Reynolds pulled out a vibrant painting of a beaming man and held it up to the crowd. Horace Varnon was one of the 154 people now marked by the single grave. When local artist Mary Larson painted his portrait, she asked him how he wanted to be remembered.
Reynolds looked at the crowd in the dull light, before continuing.
He said Varnon replied, “I’m a survivor. Tell everyone I’m a survivor.”
FROM THE COVER: A Memorial for our poor departed. More than just NAMES:
Larry Adell
Jimmy Allen
Clarence Anderson
Thomas Leslie Armstrong
Ernestine Arnold
Anna Arnott
Herbert Aaron Ashley
Doris Austin
George Allen Ayala
John T. Ball
Roger Barnette
William J. Basanich
Virgil L. Beach
Ronald B. Beres
Harold L. Bever
John Bilitz
Sheryl Boldt
Richard J. Bonner
Robert Borski
Richard E. Bottini
June Burns
Jeanne M. Carlson
Gregorio M. Castro
Jimmie Harold Caudle Jr.
Sandra Dawn Christensen
Percy R. Coffin
Walter J. Connelly Jr.
Jack W. Cooper
Gary B. Davis
James L. Davis
Loriann Degre-Romo
Chico G. Disteffano
James R. Dunn
Dorothy M. Duran
Rodolfo C. Duvergel
Sidney R. Eoff
James Edward Ewing
Gerald J. Finley
Timothy L. Fitzgerald
Dana Michael Fix
Russell Folwell
Linda R. Ford
John A. Foster
J. Michael Freeman
Darnell Howard Gantt Jr.
Douglas Tyrone Giles
Gerald Gimlin
Christopher C. Goldner
Simeon Gomez
Deborah Ann Hale
Gail J. Halstein
Archie Halvorson
Mark A. Harper
Larry A. Hearne
Miguel Hernandez-Leon
James Donald Hill
Christopher L. Hood
Jeanine Horsfall
Robert Lee Houston
William Allison Huntley
Michael L. Inger
Frank Isola
Leonidas D. Jackson Jr.
David James
Shawn D. Jeremic
Hugh W. Jesper
Jerry E. Jesper
Jay D. Johansen
Harrison H. Jones
Leroy E. Jones
Rickey Frank Jones
Robert Lee Jones
Brenda Joyce Kaslow
Gary D. Kunkle
Andrew Lach
Russell Eugene Lambeth
Melvin K. Lara
Francine Lassiter
Frederick A. Locke Jr.
Robert A. Loftus
Earl Lum
Owen Lyng
Elmo Marley
Linda Johnene Martin
Andrez Quintana Martinez
Jovonie L. McClendon
Carole J. McGillivary
Thomas McKinley
Kathy McNeilly
Malcolm Meacham
Glenda M. Miller
Jesse F. Monroe
Frances A. Moore
John A. Moore
Carlos Morales-Candia
Arnold Moran
Ernest P. Moten
Joel Kent Mousseau
Dat Van Nguyen
Elizabeth Ogle
Melvin Ole Olson
Floyd B. Ontiveros
Marco Padilla
Terri L. Palmer
Apolonio A. Pastrana
Jeffrey K. Pitts
Helen S. Plant
Gary Anton Pointer
Alexis Guerra Poyato
Kevin F. Price
James Theodorel Ramsey
Ronald Redding
Calvin Dennis Reeder Sr.
Henry Milton Reid
Louis M. Richards
John George Rogers
Patty Rohweder
Mary Francis Rolfe
Damian D. Roque
Christopher Jon Rowe
Raymond Sabo
Joyce F. Sanders
Daniel Lawrence Schmidt
Randy P. Seifer
Timothy J. Shorter
Luis Enrique Sierra
Todd Alan Smith
Michael Sprague
Glenda S. Stanifer
Paul James Stanley
Edward L. Stewart
Vivian V. Stites
Kimberly Deana Swadley
Ann Campbell Talbot
Jeff W. Thatcher
Ulysses Thomas
Peter Thome
James M. Thorne
Thomas L. Trammell
Tommy Lee Turner
Erno Tutto
Horace Varnon
Leo T. Vogel
Glenn Wahleitner
Barbara J. Walton
Earl H. Watson
Lowell William Wedemeyer
Penny West
Joseph Nathan White
Thomas Henry Whitfield
Clifford W. Wilkins
William J. Wolfe
Darlene Woods-Fields
Eric Anthony Wurzer