The kindness of strangers
Paul Betts, a former highway designer, heard a radio report last year about the increasing number of unclaimed bodies resulting from the recession. Perhaps the deceased were estranged from loved ones, or perhaps families lacked the funds to provide a proper funeral. Betts understood that Wayne County had a contract with a local funeral home to bury the dead, but the fact that no one was present to mourn their passing troubled him deeply.

A call to the county coroner put Betts in touch with Bill Kiesgen, the funeral director at Perry Funeral Home. The state and county pay the funeral home $700 per cremation or burial, and the funeral home splits the fee with the cemetery. Together, Betts and Kiesgen devised a plan to hold a monthly  prayer service for the deceased who have no one else to pray for them. As Betts saw it, “We’ve got a lot of abandoned buildings we can’t do anything about. Abandoned people, we can at least pray for.”

Although the Unclaimed Friends services, held on the third Wednesday of every month, are open to everyone, most of those who attend are members of the Episcopal parish where Betts is a member. Kiesgen supplies a white rose for each of the deceased – in March, there were 24 white roses – and Betts gives a metal angel to each of the guests. One by one, the names of the deceased are read aloud, and mourners respond, “May he (or she) rest in peace.”

Everyone deserves a farewell
“Everyone deserves some sort of a farewell,” according to Kiesgen, who doesn’t judge the families of the deceased, reasoning that they may have faced a choice of whether to feed their living members or bury the one who died.

Following the service, Betts encourages the guests to pass their angels and roses on to others with a request that they, too, pray for the stranger whose name is on the rose. He thanks everyone for coming and expresses his hope that by participating in the service, they have made Detroit a little kinder place.

In response to this growing need, Macksoud recently opened his business, Simple Funerals, with three locations in the metro Detroit area. He also maintains a website for people who prefer to shop online for funeral goods and services.

Macksoud does not own a funeral home; instead, he uses the facilities of a local licensed funeral home on a contract basis to prepare a body for burial or cremation. He also eschews visitation hours, hearses and limousines, significantly reducing his overhead costs and passing on the savings to families who can’t afford a costly funeral.

For a standard fee of $835, Macksoud will transport a body from the hospital or medical examiner’s office to the funeral home, prepare the body, complete all necessary paperwork, guide families in choosing an inexpensive casket or cremation urn, and transport the body to the cemetery or deliver the cremains to the family.

Macksoud readily acknowledges that “this isn’t for everyone,” but Simple Funerals provides a dignified alternative to a high-priced funeral for families in need.