NEW PALTZ, N.Y. — Cremains of a West Hurley World War I veteran, unclaimed since 1962, have at last found a final resting place at Ulster County Veteran’s Cemetery.
The ashes of John Lodge Stoneman were placed at the cemetery on Nov. 7 in a special ceremony that featured members of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Juan Figueroa and U.S. Rep Pat Ryan, D-Gardiner, The Ulster County Veteran Services Agency, members of area VFW and American Legion posts and Bob Boisvert and the Patriot Guard.
The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that it assisted with escorting Stoneman’s ashes to the ceremony on Thursday.
“Today, we gather to honor the life of John Lodge Stoneman, a man whose story represents the quiet courage and service of so many who came before us,” Wiltwyck Cemetery Superintendent Matthew Sirni said in a speech at Thursday’s ceremony.
Sirni said the story of the unclaimed ashes started on Sept. 6, 1962, when Stoneman, 67, a West Hurley resident, died at Benedictine Hospital, the predecessor to today’s HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston and he was cremated at the Gardner Earl Crematory in Troy, New York.
Then for 61 years, Stoneman’s remains were left unclaimed at the former Lasher Funeral Home in Woodstock, Sirni said. They were “resting there, perhaps waiting for the moment when someone would once again remember his story,” Sirni remarked.
Then in 2023, on behalf of Wiltwyck Cemetery, Sirni took Stoneman’s urn into the cemetery and crematory’s care. The goal was “ensuring that his final resting place would be one of respect and remembrance,” Sirni said.
Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1895 to Matthew and Isabell Stoneman, John Stoneman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 when he was 22 joining 4.7 million other Americans called to duty in WWI. Sirni said Stoneman ended up serving stateside and did not serve overseas before he received an honorable discharge in 1919, returning to civilian life.
Sirni said after the war, Stoneman settled in West Hurley with his wife, Kathleen Swanson Stoneman, and worked as an investigator for Prudential Insurance.
Sirni said Wiltwyck Cemetery volunteer Kathy Wade spent “countless hours” researching his story and discovering he’d served in the military.
Wade said in a phone interview Friday that after finding the veteran box checked on Stoneman’s death certificate, she confirmed it with Lasher Funeral Home records and then worked with Ryan’s office to obtain his military records.
Later she worked with the Ulster County Veteran’s Agency to make the Ulster County Veteran’s Cemetery Stoneman’s final resting place.
“All the links of the chain lined up,” he said.
“Today, as we reflect on John’s life, we honor more than his service and his work; we honor the entirety of his journey,” Sirni said in his speech. “It is our privilege to ensure that John’s memory lives on, that his story is told, and that he rests with the dignity he deserves. May we always remember him and the countless others who, like him, contributed to the fabric of our community and our country.”
Witwyck Cemetery staffer Molly Sterrs said Friday that a memorial plaque for Stoneman has been ordered and will arrive at a later date.
Wade said that she’s been doing this volunteer work for a year and half. Stoneman’s remains are one of 36 unclaimed urns Wiltwyck received after the Lasher Funeral Home shut down, she said.
This is the 16th case of unclaimed ashes Wiltwyck “closed,” with 20 more to go, she said.
She said so far, there was one other veteran, Bruce Carroll, who served in the Navy on the USS Forestal during the Vietnam War. She noted the ashes of the Woodstock resident went unclaimed when he died in 1983.
Carroll was buried with military honors in 2023, Wade said.
She said her research mostly consists of calling people, as she is unable to get people’s death certificates.
“I love my work,” Wade said. “It really makes me feel like I’m making a difference.”