Worcester funeral director proposes changes to help bury the poor

WORCESTER, Mass. — Death is a fact of life and these days, so is the high cost of finding eternal rest.

The cost of a funeral and buried can run into the thousands of dollars, but for people who leave this world without a dime to their names, and no one to claim their bodies, there may be no resting in peace.

With more people falling victim to opioid addiction, it is a growing problem.

There are only a few funeral directors in Massachusetts who will bury the penniless and they are feeling the strain.

One of them is trying to change things.

"I've got one gentleman here, I can't find out a thing on him, for three months. Problem is, he has a common name and I can't locate too many people," said Peter Stefan, Worcester's Graham Putnam and Mahoney Funeral Home.

Worcester's Graham Putnam and Mahoney Funeral Home is known for taking care of the bodies no one else will.

This is where the body of Boston Marathon Bomber Tamleran Tsarnaev was first brought, but even

Stefan has serious concerns about continuing to bury the poor and unwanted.

His funeral home's basement is filled with the cremated remains of the unclaimed dead. There are two unclaimed bodies in his refrigerator, one has been here for four months.

Stefan wants state rules changed to ease financial restrictions to help poor families bury their dead, and in other cases to allow funeral homes to cremate bodies left unclaimed for weeks.

"We don't throw people in big pits and bury them all at once. We do certain things here. We bury them, whatever that might be we do something. The respect is in doing something. There's no respect in leaving bodies in the hospital five and six months we don't know what to do with them," said Stefan.

Stefan says his proposals are meant to help respect the dead, especially those who left literally nothing behind.

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Cox Media Group