Morrisons Funerals have over 800 ashes sitting in storage. (File photo) Photo:
An Auckland funeral home has reunited unclaimed ashes with about a dozen families, but still has over 800 remaining unclaimed after a call-out before a mass interment.
In September, Morrisons Funerals said it had a secured room full of over 700 unclaimed ashes urns and in the coming months it was planning a mass interment to lay the ashes to rest - this number had now risen to over 800.
Location manager Natasha Plunkett said families had been given until the end of November to come forward, but due to the sheer volume of ashes and the discovery that many belonged to returned servicemen, the date had now been extended until early 2026.
The unclaimed ashes ranged from the 1930s up to 2020, she said.
Plunkett said about 10 to 15 of the ashes had now been reunited with families, but a number of organisations had come forward offering to help with the mammoth task.
A few cemeteries had also offered to donate plots.
In some cases, spouses of those who had died had been identified in cemeteries across New Zealand, so investigations were underway to see if they could be taken to the same place.
Plunkett said they had found many of the ashes belonged to returned servicemen who may no longer have any living relatives.
"We have ashes from someone who lived to be over 100 and outlived all their relatives," she said.
There were various reasons as to why ashes were unclaimed, Plunkett said, a common reason was just due to miscommunication within families.
She said a lot of grandchildren had been in touch looking to find the ashes of their long dead grandparents.
"There's been a lot of joy really that we were still holding them and [they] could be reunited."
Some of the families had felt embarrassed about coming forward after so much time had passed, she said, but most had the best intentions.
Anyone who thought they might have a loved one whose ashes were never collected from Morrisons Funerals could reach out to the funeral home by emailing tributes@morrisons.co.nz or calling 09 836 0029.
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