Fort Lupton, funeral home work toward resolution

    FORT LUPTON — An agreement reached between a local funeral home and city government should put to rest one of Fort Lupton’s thornier chapters, if the matter doesn’t settle itself first.
    At issue is one final set of cremated remains left behind in the garage of the former Bostick Funeral Home after former owner Jim Bostick’s departure under less than ideal circumstances. Unclaimed thus far, the ashes are the last of several sets of remains discovered in the garage, and the focus of media coverage.
    While the majority have since been claimed by relatives, tracking the remains is a daunting task, made harder by a lack of documentation.  
    “If they didn’t come in and pay for a burial plot or burial services, we have no record of it,” Fort Lupton Mayor Tommy Holton said. “So we are trying to track it down. I don’t know what Bostick did with his records.”
    Adding to the ambiguity is the inability of the city to move forward, a legal quagmire that Holton said the city must approach carefully. 
    “In order for us to do anything, we have to get a hold of the families,” Holton said. “We can’t just go in demand the ashes and take them out to the cemetery. We have to try and work backwards to find out why family members didn’t come pick up their relatives.”
    According to Holton, despite the challenges, the city planned on finding a resolution. 
    “We are going to work with Erlinger and try to get this ferreted out,” Holton said. “It’s not fair to the families and not fair to the deceased to have this happen. It’s not their fault, it’s not the city’s fault, and it’s not Erlinger’s fault. We have to try and work our way through it to try and make it right.”
    Shortly after talking Feb. 8, Holton called again, detailing plans to resolve the disposition of the remains. Limited by what the city can effectively do without familial consent, the city agreed to a waiting period, after which the expense of interring the remains would be shared between Erlinger Funeral Home and Hillside Cemetery.
    “Erlinger can’t release ashes to the city,” Holton said. “So his recommendation was we wait a year. He is going to keep tracking through and backtrack the system and find out to whom they belong. If he can do that, fine. If he can’t, then the city will pick up the tab for opening and closing of the grave, and Erlinger will pay for the vault. So we will get it taken care of.”
    In the interim, the best-case scenario sees the remains claimed by proper next-of-kin, before the city takes charge.
    “The hope is that within that year, the family will find out about it and come back in,” Holton said. “That would be the best.”
    According to Erlinger Funeral Home owner Carl Erlinger, the last unclaimed remains belong to Jack K. West, of Brighton, dated Nov. 3, 2005. Anyone with information to help identify West should contact Erlinger Funeral Home at 303-452-3133. 

Contact Staff Writer Gene Sears at gsears@metrowestnewspapers.com.