The relatives of Mabel Bink, 89, who died on June 18, 2010, chose to have their loved one’s body cremated into ashes. Because Ms. Bink died in retirement in Mesa, Arizona and her relatives lived out of the area, they had Ms. Bink’s ashes mailed via the United States Post Office to their home. However, things didn’t go quite as planned when the ashes became lost.

When a loved one dies there are many different reasons why family members may want the remains of their loved ones cremated into ashes. Whatever the reasons; however, family members expect to get their loved one’s remains to do with them as they choose. The relatives of Ms. Bink were quite dismayed when they did not receive the ashes they were waiting for in the mail.

Ms. Bink’s ashes were scheduled to arrive to her relatives on July 18^, 2010 from Mesa, Arizona to Chicago, Illinois in time for her planned burial on July 23, 2010. Although the U.S. Post Office said that their records showed the package containing Ms. Bink’s ashes were processed and en-route to Chicago, they still hadn’t arrived on the commercial flight on which they were said to have been placed.

The U.S. Post Office looked for the ashes. They thought that they had found them in an urn that was discovered in Des Moines, Iowa, but they were mistaken, as those were the wrong ashes.

As of Wednesday, the ashes of Ms. Bink were still not found. After the family brought this issue to the media’s attention, the ashes were finally located. Beth Biancalana, Ms. Bink’s granddaughter said yesterday that she was expecting the twenty pound package of her grandmother’s ashes to be delivered by at the latest, that day. She believes that the media coverage is what helped to expedite the process of finding these ashes.

Ms. Biancalana said that the funeral will be rescheduled for a July 25, 2010 burial, now that Ms. Bink’s ashes have been found. Ms. Biancalana is relieved to have the ashes in her possession at this time, as she was afraid that with the loss of her grandmother’s ashes, she may not have been able to have a proper funeral and burial. This is the closure process that many people need when saying good-bye to their loved one who has passed away.