Were these mum’s ashes?
Crematorium admits urn mistake
A GRIEVING family have been left doubting whether the ashes they scattered in Wellington Harbour were those of their dead mother.
Larry and Shirley Hurst, who lived in Wellington before moving to Brisbane, were ‘‘joined at the hip’’ and the loving, elderly couple wanted their ashes scattered together in Oriental Bay.
They got their wish in an emotional ceremony in April 2010.
However, in a bizarre twist, their family were contacted in December, nearly two years after the ceremony, by the Australian company that cremated the pair. The crematorium said it still held ‘‘the ashes of your loved one’’ and asked what the family’s plans were for the remains.
The crematorium later explained that a terrible mistake had been made and only part of Mrs Hurst’s ashes were returned to the family.
Her ashes were split into two urns because they did not fit into one, the crematorium said. A staff member’s error meant only one of the urns was returned to the family.
‘‘I was distraught,’’ the couple’s daughter, Katy Lightwood, told The Dominion Post.
‘‘I fainted. I fell on the floor I was in so much shock. It was unbelievable. ‘‘If you knew Mum and Dad they were joined at the hip. Mum died of a broken heart. They needed to be together and that’s what we wanted . . . not just part of mum, the whole of her.’’
The company, Centenary Memorial Gardens, has since assured the family the ashes scattered were indeed of their mother. However, Mrs Lightwood has her doubts. ‘‘I’ll have to accept that, otherwise I’ll go nuts . . . but it’s very hard to believe that’s what happened.’’
She cannot understand how the ashes of her father, who weighed about 60 kilograms, could fit into a 1.5-litre urn, while his wife, who was ‘‘a tiny little lady’’ weighing about 45kg, could not.
Neither can Simon Manning, managing director of Harbour City Funeral Home in Wellington. ‘‘It doesn’t make any sense at all,’’ he said. He had never