AUGUSTA, Maine — The peaceful grounds of the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery filled with sound Thursday as dozens of Mainers filed in and stood at attention to pay respects to a man most of them had never met.
Gerry Brooks, 86, died at a nursing home in Augusta on May 18. From there, Katie Riposta and the staff at Direct Cremation of Maine cared for his body and awaited family members who might claim it and plan a burial.
But, she said, no one called. So they called known relatives and got no response. Then, she said, they followed standard practice of telling law enforcement, who made their own calls to no avail.
After declaring the body abandoned, Riposta's team decided to host a funeral themselves. They posted on their website, asking for pallbearers and attendees for Thursday's service. The PenBay Pilot quickly circulated it, then the Maine Bureau of Veterans' Services.
The hearse arrived to a line of traffic at the cemetery and a crowd of dozens at the grave site.
A military chaplain presided over the event. There was also a fly-over and a 21-gun salute. Then, nearly every person lined up and paid their respects, one by one, in front of Brooks's casket. Some leaned in and touched it before moving on. A few veterans left memorabilia on top.
Riposta had coordinated countless funerals but few like this.
"Being alone at the end of your life certainly strikes a chord with anyone, because I think all that you can hope in a life that you live is that at the end of your life you're not alone," she said in an interview after the service.
However rare, this exact situation is not unique. Along the same row, a handful of headstones away, Riposta said Direct Cremation held a funeral for a Sgt. Stacey Hallett in February, after she said no family would claim his body.
On Thursday, there were several people in attendance who knew Brooks. Victoria Abbott runs the Bread of Life soup kitchen in downtown Augusta, and said Brooks was a daily visitor.
"He was just a joy to have every day," Abbott recalled.
She was thrilled to see such a crowd there to honor the man she knew.
"This was amazing," she smiled. "And I have said to a few folks, if you knew Gerry, he'd be like, 'Oh, this fuss. Why this fuss?' But I think he would be joyed."
Now, Gerry Brooks, like Stacey Hallett, rests in the company of fellow veterans, with resounding proof he is loved.