Shianne Richardson and her wife were dumpster diving in Huber Heights, Ohio, when they discovered something unexpected.
“We sometimes stop at dumpsters because a lot of places throw away food,” Richardson told Scrubs Magazine. “We pulled up and I immediately saw a black box, and I picked it up and it was heavy.”
Richardson quickly realized she was holding an urn, one filled with human remains. “It’s just disrespectful and disgusting,” she said.
The two women decided to investigate.
“I flipped it around and saw a sticker with a funeral home name on it, someone’s name, death date,” Richardson said. “I was like ‘with the weight of the box and this sticker, she’s definitely in here.’”
Richardson researched the deceased woman’s name, discovering that Dove Clark was a nurse during WWII. “I was amazed that she lived this fulfilled, selfless life and she was still just disposed of,” Richardson said.
Richardson and her wife didn’t stop there. The couple traveled to Enon Cemetery, where they discovered the final resting place of Clark’s husband. Buried sometime in the 1990s, the deceased husband had intended for his wife to join him when she passed. It’s unclear how Clark’s urn ended up in a dumpster instead.
“We were both talking to her in our heads saying ‘show us where you are, we want to put you to rest, show us where you are,’” Richardson said. “I was coming up this way and I saw her, she’s right here.”
The couple called the cemetery to see if arrangements could be made to put Clark to rest. “We were ready to raise money, do anything we needed to bury her,” she said.
An employee, Don, answered their call and explained that he would arrange for Clark to be laid to rest with her husband for free.
“We called Don, and he was like, ‘If you’re willing to bring her here, I will bury her because that’s just crazy,’” Richardson said. “We gave her ashes to Don and knew she was safe.”
The cemetery conducted a Nurse Honor Guard Ceremony to honor her passing, all nearly 10 years after her death.
“It was everything she deserved,” Richardson said. “I feel like I met her, I knew her, and I grieved her all in such a short amount of time.”
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