No One Is Forgotten

The Why?

We feel very strongly that each and every person deserves to be honorably laid to rest, and not forgotten on a shelf at a funeral home. Many times, we lose sight that those urns, were once people – people who lived an entire life. It is our mission to honor each man, woman, and child.

The How?

Each person’s urn who comes into our care has their own story. Many times, we are contacted by a funeral home to help them reunite them with their families. Sometimes we are contacted by business that have found urns that have been left in storage units, apartments, or old houses. We even accept urns from families that just don’t know what to do with the urn – but no longer want to keep it at home.

The When?

We hold three different services-

1. For Unclaimed Children – we hold this service as needed. As of 2023, we will hopefully hold a graveside service at Avon Cemetery in the spring of 2024.

2. For Civilians – we hold this service as needed. As of 2023, we will hopefully hold a graveside at Avon Cemetery in summer of 2024.

3. For Veterans – This date has been set for September 27, 2024. Times have not yet been confirmed. It is very important that they each receive the military honors they deserve.

The Who?

Lanae Strovers is a funeral director at Hamiton’s Funeral Home in Des Moines. She created The Final Salute as an organization to help further her passion of ensuring no one goes unclaimed. It all started because of a surgery that forced her into bedrest, and a desire to locate her own biological family that created the foundation.

Dennis Allen is a 9 year Navy Veteran who served at the start of Desert Storm. After his time with the Navy, Dennis retired as a firefighter for the city of Des Moines. As an avid genealogist he started helping Lanae with her project after her first Veteran Service, with the remaining civilian cremations. His passion is to reunited these unclaimed cremations with family or assist them to their respectful resting place.

Cris Nagla –

Our goal is to never leave a person unclaimed. There are many reasons this happens, but it is not our position to judge. We differ from others because the military may receive the most recognition, but we do not let anybody go unclaimed. We are all humans and all deserve that Final Salute.