BOZEMAN — At Sunset Hills Cemetery on Tuesday, community members gather for a funeral, honoring individuals who died and were left unclaimed.
Between 1922 and 2020, 66 people died in Gallatin County and remained unclaimed.
Many remain at Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service, where they published a list of names of these unclaimed remains.
Funeral director Bailey Krause says that, with the help of social media, many families came forward to claim their loved ones.
“We had an individual come forward, and he said, ‘My grandpa is on that list.’ And when I asked, ‘How old are you?’ He was 90 years old and just found out that his grandpa was in our care, so to have that come full circle in that time frame that they did was so cool,” she says.
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For those 55 individuals who were ultimately not claimed, a funeral was held on Tuesday.
“They had dignity and worth, and so we want to pay our respects to them. They had parents, brothers and sisters, families among whom they were raised,” says the Gallatin County Chaplain.
At the funeral, the chaplain went on to talk about the individuals' lives.
“Among them are teachers, homemakers, housekeepers, clerks, a cook, and a dishwasher. A florist, a dentist, a construction worker, a transient, a homeless person, a general manager, a nurse, an electrician, a retail store owner, a secretary, a psycologist, a dude rancher, and even a New York tugboat captain.”
As people crowd around the casket, flowers are dropped as each name of the deceased is read out loud.
For community member Dan Noyes, he felt the need to come to the funeral.
“I grew up here, and I know I knew some of these people. I know for sure I knew Geroge Covey,” Noyes says.
Noyes says this is what Bozeman is all about.
“The support here meant a lot. I was really surprised there weren't more people, but there was enough,” Noyes says.
As the remains are finally laid to rest, Noyes reflects, “Everybody deserves this, somebody, to care. You think of these people that just got forgotten. It kind of gets to you. Everybody needs this.”
