By Steve Miller
A noontime ceremony in the Loop paid tribute to almost 400 men and women who died indigent during the past year – and were buried at county expense.
It is the Cook County Medical Examiner who sends the unclaimed – the indigents – to their final resting place.
Representing the county at the service: Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
“The individuals we recognize today, we don’t know their stories or their challenges. We don’t know what brought them into our care.”
“But each was a member of our community. They had family and friends. They were daughters and sons. Parents and grandparents.”
In previous years – sometimes – people at the service at the Chicago Temple have said they knew some of the unclaimed.
But apparently not so this year.
This year’s service was in memory of 389 men and women who died indigent.