UNION CITY, Mich. – The new owners of a closed funeral home are looking for the families of people who may have left behind unclaimed remains.
Tate Goodwin, the director and manager of Lighthouse Funeral & Cremation, says they acquired the Spencer Funeral Home in Athens, Michigan two years ago in a bankruptcy auction. Lighthouse took possession of the building in March of 2016 and say they started working on plans to clear the building and prepare it for demolition.
Goodwin says that in mid-October, the former owner of Spencer Funeral Home died and family delivered several boxes to Lighthouse that contained cremated remains of those that had not been claimed by family members before closure of the home. He says that is unusual for the former owner to hold onto unclaimed cremated remains for two years, it isn’t unusual to have some unclaimed cremated remains at a funeral home. The remains had been kept at a storage unit of the owner’s.
Goodwin says they contacted the Calhoun County Medical Examiner about the unclaimed remains. They took them to the examiner’s offices at the Western Michigan University School of Medicine. Anyone who thinks they may have family remains that were at the Spencer Funeral Home should call the medical examiner at 269-337-6173.
