Lexington County Coroner holds burial, memorial service for unidentified and impoverished residents

COLUMBIA (WOLO): 25 Lexington County residents were laid to rest Tuesday in a beautiful service thanks in part to County Coroner Margaret Fisher.

“This is not a burial of people who didn’t want to take care of their family. These are people who wanted to do the right thing for their family, but couldn’t financially,”explained Fisher. 

Those laid to rest at the County of Lexington Cemetery were either not claimed by family members, are unidentified, or had families who couldn’t afford a traditional service. Only a handful attended for a deceased loved one. Others just came to show support. 

“I would like to know that if something happened to me, I would have somebody to support me, somebody to put me in my final resting place, and these people were not as fortunate as I am. I’m here to support the Lexington County Coroner’s Office, the people being laid to rest,” said Kelley Brown, who attended Tuesday’s service. 

Jerry Shealy also attended the service to show support. He says, “it just touches me when people just pass away, or whatever reason, and nobody acknowledges the death or knows they’re even dead. It’s just really sad.”

Coroner Fisher says the cemetery was created to accommodate a growing need in the county, exacerbated by COVID-19. 

43 individuals were laid to rest at this cemetery in 2020.

“Our numbers are way up as far as indigents go in Lexington County, and it’s definitely related back to the pandemic. People lost their jobs, couldn’t work, and the really sad thing is people who did die during that time couldn’t have a service at all,” said Fisher. 

Now as cases decline, she says residents have a compassionate place to visit and mourn their loved ones. Along with the service, the county also provides the cremation and a headstone. 

“It’s just humbling to our office to be able to provide this for those families. there’s no feeling like doing this for other people.”