Hard as it is for me to imagine, the remains of nearly 300 people were left behind at a central Iowa funeral home over the last two-and-a-half decades. While Hamilton's Funeral Home in Des Moines has been able to connect with nearly two-thirds of them over the last couple of years, the ashes of 91 people who were cremated still remain.

Lanae Strovers of Hamilton's explained to KCCI why the remains of loved ones are sometimes left behind:

Emotionally, families are not ready to take them home, so they are in our care for some time. Other family members just forgot, and they thought ‘My sister picked him up.’

You don't know each story, what happened, why or when but each person was a person. For me, it's important to try and find their family.

That's why we want to put it out there publicly for one last try to get ahold of the family.

A list of the those whose remains have still not been claimed is below.

Hamilton's Funeral Home
Hamilton's Funeral Home
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The remains of anyone whose family doesn't come forward by September 26 at 11 am, will be buried at Avon Lake Cemetery. According to Strovers, "The cemetery has donated spaces and others given flowers and vaults to make sure these people have a final resting spot."

While I think that generosity is awesome, I sincerely hope all 91 families can be reached in the next few weeks. Hopefully, this story will help.

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