Mother’s lost cremains reunited with daughter just in time for Mother’s Day

A woman was reunited with the cremated remains of her mother last week in northwest suburban Rolling Meadows days before Mother’s Day.

The cremains of Ursula Staack ended up at the Kane County coroner’s office with no date of birth, date of death or known next of kin, the Kane County coroner’s office said. They were scheduled to be interred May 31 in a dignified ceremony for unclaimed remains.

Coroner Rob Russell entered Staack’s name in an investigative database and found she had died Sep. 3, 2009 in Streamwood, the coroner’s office said. He wanted to track down her family even though Staack had died outside of Kane County.

“We are the guardians of the deceased and we must do our due diligence in locating next of kin, even if he/she isn’t from our area,” Russell said in a statement.

Further investigation turned up Tina Moe, Staack’s 70-year-old daughter, who lived nearby in an assisted living facility in Rolling Meadows, the coroner’s office said.

Moe was surprised to get a call from the coroner’s office but was delighted to hear her mother’s cremains had been found, the coroner’s office said. Russell traveled to the northwest suburb May 10 and delivered Staack’s remains to Moe.

“I am happy that we could reunite mother and daughter just in time for Mother’s Day,” he said.