I am looking for the final resting place of the ashes of my wifes
father.  His name was John I. Rohde. He went by the name "Jack" and
the middle initial "I."  was for "Ingersoll".  He died June 12, 1988
in Seattle, Washington.  He was born 05/05/1915.  He was an officer in
WWII and saw action in Europe.  His dog tag number was 01552977 T42. 
I believe he lived most, if not all of his life in the Seattle area. 
He was married to Vera M. Rohde.  She passed away in 1991; I think it
was September and was also cremated.  I think their ashes are resting
beside each other.  I believe the final resting place for Jack's ashes
is in the Seattle area. Please, can you tell us where Jack's ashes are
located?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 18 Nov 2003 17:00 PST

Hello ravun-ga,

I've done a search of cemetery and newspaper records but, so far, no
luck in uncovering the information you need.

However, I located the social security death index record for the
passing of Mr. Rohde, and it confirms his date of birth, and date and
place of death, as well as providing his social security number.

With this information confirmed, you should be able to get a copy of
his death certificate from local officials in Washigton state.  If
you'd like, I can provide the procedures for doing so as an answer to
your question.

The death certificate (which costs $17 to obtain from local officials)
is no guarantee that you will be able to track down your
father-in-law's ashes, but it certainly seems the next logical step in
the process.

Let me know how you would like to proceed, and best of luck with your search.  

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by ravun-ga on 19 Nov 2003 16:54 PST

Getting Jack Rohde's death certificate will not be of help.  We know
he is dead. Death certificates do not inform where a person's remains
are located.  We would be no better off than we are now by having his
death certificate.  I do not want to proceed down that path. 
Thank-you

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 19 Nov 2003 19:08 PST

Death certificates usually contain quite a bit of information,
including the disposition of the deceased.

You can see a copy of the death certificates used in New Mexico here:

http://dohewbs2.health.state.nm.us/vitalrec/death%20certificate.gif

As you can see, questions 20 and 21 concern the disposition of the
deceased.  There is also an entry for the name of the person who
reported the death.

Although I haven't seen an actual certificate used in Washington, I
would guess the information content is quite similar.

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Clarification of Question by ravun-ga on 23 Nov 2003 08:24 PST

I have discussed this with my wife and she is not interested in
getting the death certificate.  I will increase the payment by $20.00
to cover the cost of the $17 certificate if you think this is the way
to find our answer. List price will now be $45.00 total if we get a
definitive answer to where her father's ashes are located. Thank-you.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 23 Nov 2003 09:02 PST

Do you know the name of the mortuary that handled the funeral?

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 23 Nov 2003 09:05 PST

I assume it would have been one of these, if this helps jog your memory:

http://www.wsfda.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=16

regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 23 Nov 2003 09:07 PST

I'm sorry - here is a more reliable link to the Seattle funeral homes:

http://www.wsfda.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=211

regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 23 Nov 2003 11:52 PST

Ravun --

Similar to Pafalafa, I checked the Seattle Times (online since 1984)
and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (online since 1990) and could not
find an obituary which might give us a clue for either John or Vera
Rohde.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by ravun-ga on 24 Nov 2003 16:24 PST

We do not know which mortuary handled the funeral.  I have spent many
hours looking for and at cemetery/graveyard info with no results. I
have also looked in the newspaper archives, again with no luck. 
Thank-you all for your input.

I'm a retired private investigator who has helped literally thousands
of folks find missing family members over the years. I think it's a
bad decision to not obtain a copy of your wife's father's death
certificate. The majority of death certificates do indeed list where a
person's remains are interred.

But even if that specific information is missing, it should list the
person who gave the information on the death certificate. And that
person may well know where remains, even ashes, were placed.

In addition, the death certificate should also list the mortuary or
funeral home that handled the cremation. Actually there will very
likely be so many helpful clues on the death certificate that listing
them all would be a chore.

I learned early on in my career that a reluctance to gather all the
information available about someone a person is looking for often
indicates deep psychological ambivalence about actually completing the
search.

Pafalafa seems to know the right search strategy to pursue and stands
an excellent chance of succeeding if he gets a copy of the death
certificate. Getting a copy of Vera's death certificate also increases
the chance of success. I'm sure Pafalafa is aware of this but one
potential sticking point is that some states will only release a death
certificate to a family member. I don't know if this is currently the
case in WA or not.

All the best
Shatter