72 were cast aside after death with no final resting place, but a Girl Scout is changing that

“Taps” will sound from a trumpet at a noon service Saturday at Rose Hill Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Conway where the cremated remains of 72 unclaimed people will be laid to rest as part of a 15-year-old Myrtle Beach Girl Scout’s project.

On Thursday afternoon, dozens of small cardboard boxes filled with ashes, unclaimed by families, were stacked high on a table at the Horry County Coroner’s Office, waiting to be placed into a shared casket by Ingram Cox, who organized the burial as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project she’s entitled “Potter’s Field.”

The unclaimed remains of 60 men, 11 women, and one unidentified person formerly called the Horry County Coroner’s Office closet their final resting place. Some of them have been stored there for more than 20 years, according to Robert Edge, Horry County Coroner.

“Our goal is not to keep them here in an office in a closet. … It’s to give them a Christian burial,” said Edge.

“We don’t treat them as just numbers or boxes. We take pride in doing this.”

Many of those who will be buried were homeless and until Saturday have remained so even in their deaths. Some were people who came to the area to get lost in the pulsing crowds of Myrtle Beach, and families for them couldn’t be found, Edge said.

They mainly died natural deaths. Some succumbed to illnesses, or issues brought on from drugs or alcohol. Several were abandoned in homes as families moved out, leaving them behind.

A box containing the ashes of one person was discovered alongside a road after the family moved out of a North Myrtle Beach apartment, Edge said.

Some are unwanted by their families over bad blood. Others stayed shelved in the coroner’s closet because families didn’t have the means to claim them, while some were forgotten stepchildren, undesired by families with new spouses after nasty divorces, according to Edge.

Preparing for a new resting place

On Thursday afternoon, Lee McMillan, vice president and funeral director at McMillan-Small Funeral Home, brought a large silver casket donated by Goldfinch Funeral Home to the Coroner’s Office, and Ingram Cox and mother Michelle Cox arrived to help place the remains inside the casket ahead of Saturday’s service.

“It’s important because they don’t have anyone else to take care of them, and they haven’t received their own burial service, and in my family it’s really important that after you’ve passed on that you have a proper burial service,” said Ingram Cox.

Before packing the remains into the casket, Ingram and Michelle Cox first went down a list of names, meticulously checking each box with care.

Coroner’s Office administrators also stood by, assisting with the lists of names, carting the remains, and offering any materials needed to help move the 72 people they’ve developed something of a connection with over the years and always treated with care.

They looked on as the boxes were placed and wore expressions of gratitude mixed with a touch of sadness once the last person was packed and the casket closed.

During the process, Sharon Stevens, Horry County Coroner’s Office administrative assistant, popped out of her office and asked that 3-year-old Virginia Grace Adkins, the only child among them, be given a special place of honor and be put atop the remains inside the casket.

“I’m a mother, and I feel bad that she can’t be with her family,” said Stevens.

A box containing Adkins’ ashes and saying she was cremated in Norfolk, Va., was discovered by police several years ago and since then she’s often stayed in Edge’s office – outside of the closet with the others.

“It kind of hit home more putting them into the casket and seeing all their names and how many there actually were and the ages of them and just knowing how long they’ve been in this office,” said Ingram Cox, who elected to be a part of the packing process.

Edge said he would breathe a sigh of relief seeing them all buried on Saturday.

“I personally believe that everyone should have a burial place or resting place, and I feel like it should be a Christian burial for them. … I just think we owe them that much respect to see that they’re laid at a final resting place,” said Edge.

‘Potter’s Field’

Ingram Cox came up with the name “Potter’s Field” while she was doing research on the project when she discovered it was a term often given to shared graves.

On Saturday, Ingram will see the completion of her Girl Scout project that’s been roughly four years in the making.

“I hope it will give closure to the people that I’m burying, but it will also give closure to me and everyone whose been working on this project for so long,” she said.

The idea’s origins first developed about four years ago when Ingram was watching the news with her grandfather and saw a report on all the unclaimed ashes in Horry County.

At that time, the collection consisted of about 35 boxes of remains when she first began talks with Edge on the possibility of a project.

Then about two years ago, after Ingram’s grandfather passed away, she saw a newspaper article on the unclaimed ashes and it reminded her of her grandfather, along with serving as a realization that the problem was still ongoing and she decided she would make the burial her Gold Award project.

Once she became a senior Girl Scout in Troop 95, led by her mother Michelle, she was able to begin her Gold Award project and discovered through her research mounting unclaimed remains was an issue worldwide, and she set out to make a difference in her community.

“I just hope that it inspires other communities to the same thing because I know that other communities everywhere have this problem,” said Ingram Cox.

Edge said he is left with one or two boxes of unclaimed remains each month now as his collection mounts at a more rapid pace than in previous years.

“I don’t know if it’s economics, or if it’s just people changing their thoughts about taking care of their loved ones,” said Edge. “I remember growing up in this area and it was always something you did. You didn’t never leave somebody. You might put them in the least expensive casket you could buy, but something was done.”

At the service Saturday, Girl Scouts will assist and multiple ministers from different denominations will also come together.

Local florists have offered to donate arrangements, and musicians will also offer up their talents to honor those being buried. The service was also made possible through the generosity of McMillan-Small Funeral Home, Goldfinch Funeral Home, Bruce & Son Grave Service, Doric Vaults and the City of Conway.

The names of all 72 people will be read aloud by Girl Scouts and ministers as Ingram, her mother, and others ring chimes after each name.

A second plot also awaits at Rose Hill, where –when the time is right – Girl Scouts after Ingram will follow her work and see that another collection of unclaimed remains are properly laid to rest, so the project can continue.

Michelle Cox said she was glad “Taps” will be played at the ceremony because at the end of each Girl Scout meeting the girl’s cross arms and sing the song together, so playing it at the service creates the not just a way to honorable closure those being buried at last, but also as the perfect end to a Girl Scout project.

Michelle cited some of the words to “Taps” on Thursday after the casket was closed: Day is done, gone the sun, From the lake, from the hills, from the sky; All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

This story was originally published November 18, 2016 at 2:04 PM with the headline "72 were cast aside after death with no final resting place, but a Girl Scout is changing that."