What to Know
- Holly McLeod told NBC affiliate WPTV that she had her father, Walter Lubinsky, cremated after his death in November 2015 in Port St. Lucie.
A Treasure Coast woman is still looking for answers after the ashes of her late father, a decorated World War II veteran, were kept at a Palm Beach County cremation facility for nearly three years.
Holly McLeod told NBC affiliate WPTV that she had her father, Walter Lubinsky, cremated after his death in November 2015 in Port St. Lucie at the age of 92 with the intent of fulfilling his last wish to have his ashes sent to the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia to be placed on a destroyer and spread at sea.
McLeod said she hired Avatar Cremation Services in North Palm Beach, being charged over $900.
“The funeral home was supposed to mail the ashes to Norfolk for me, so once he was cremated I never saw the ashes again,” she told the station.
McLeod said she never received confirmation of the ashes being received in Virginia and was unable to get in contact with anyone from the company for nearly three years.
Eventually, the company did return the ashes to McLeod and said they were in a lockbox inside the facility. She remains skeptical that the ashes are actually those of her father.
Local
“I don’t want to keep thinking about them scooping up dirt in a box, because that’s what I have been thinking about lately,” McLeod said.
The crematory and their corporate owners did not respond to the station’s request for comment. DNA experts told the station it would be nearly impossible to determine if the ashes are those of Lubinsky.
McLeod said she still intends on having the ashes sent to Virginia to fulfill her father’s request.
