HELENA — Dozens of community members gathered to pay their respects and lay to rest people they didn’t even know to ensure their lives are not forgotten.

The Lewis & Clark County coroner’s division hosted a memorial service at the county cemetery to honor 18 people whose remains have gone unclaimed.

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Sheriff Leo Dutton says, “Holding this service to me means that we honor people — no matter race, creed, color, anything like that, and it brings humility and humanity toward the human race.”

The coroner’s division works to connect with family or friends of those who have passed away.

For those who still remained unclaimed, this burial service was a way to ensure they were remembered.

“We often get caught up in arguing about politics or our beliefs, but death is a final arbitrator," Dutton says. "We are all equal, so we should honor people.”

The Magpie Drummers and Singers performed honor songs that echoed throughout the cemetery.

A Little Shell elder performed a prayer, and Chaplain Jason Smith read out the names of those being remembered.

The sheriff’s honor guard displayed and ceremonially folded a flag, and the nearly hundred people in attendance laid flowers at the burial site.

Among those at the ceremony was Catherine Pinegar, who has been attending the indigent burial since its start.

She says, “We can say goodbye to them and give them a respectful burial and let them know that people do think about them."

18 people remembered at the service:

• Sarah Ann
• Carolyn Combest
• Jeffrey Cullity
• William Sherrod
• Dameane Baumgartner
• Rick Grams
• Danny Weseloh
• Carey Robinson
• Raymond Masse
• Allen Flook
• Pamela Wrzesinki
• Bette Engles
• Richard Field
• Roger Green
• Robert Eklund
• Eric Krecl
• Michael Lang
• Allen Chaffee

The coroner’s division first hosted this service in 2018 and has been doing it every other year since.