MONTOUR COUNTY, Pa. — A storage closet at the Montour County coroner's office near Danville is currently home to 86 boxes holding the cremated remains of someone. That number continues to grow.
"We can have up to two a week at this point, and it's not uncommon," said Montour County Chief Deputy Coroner Breanna Dewalt.
The unclaimed remains are from all over Pennsylvania and even New York.
Many have died at Geisinger Medical Center near Danville. They range in age from infant to 84.
Dewalt says most of the time people cannot afford to pick up their loved ones, so the remains stay there.
"Other reasons could be they don't have any family members, or the family is estranged, and they don't want to step forward to handle."
Dewalt says it's becoming a space issue at the coroner's office.
"With the increase in cases that we have, we just don't have the space for it anymore, and it's getting to the point where it's disrespectful to the remains that we do have."
Recently, the office had the idea for a mausoleum. Montour County Coroner Scott Lynn met with a group of pastors, and the idea will soon become a reality.
"We just came up with a design for the building this past week, and we developed the internal plans," Lynn said.
St. Joseph's Church donated the land for the mausoleum. It will be built at Odd Fellows Cemetery outside of Danville. The mausoleum will be able to hold up to 1,000 people.
'We're trying to think ahead of the needs and where this is going based on over the years how it's progressed to get worse, and we don't see any change in that in the coming future," Lynn said.
The project is being funded through donations.
To donate, send a check to:
Montour County Cemetery Fund
435 East Front Street
Danville, PA 17821