Whitestone Funerals' unclaimed ashes numbered four.
In a variety of boxes and containers, the unclaimed ashes have sat at the Oamaru funeral home for a long time - one since 1999.
But yesterday afternoon, Agnes Wilson Kelly (died 1999), Lydia Catherine Mitchel (2009), Terje Nielson (2013) and Colin Harry Rushby (2013) were finally laid to rest in a communal plot at the funeral home's Westview Memorial Garden.
Buried alongside them were the ashes of Lillingston Alice Rivers and ''forgotten'' Mary Isabel Garden Begg.
Until recently, their ashes had also remained unclaimed at Whitestone Funerals since their funerals, in 1974 and 1983 respectively.
The ashes of the 10 others had since been collected by family or friends, who arranged their own final resting place.
Whitestone Funerals manager Janeen Paull said ashes went unclaimed for a variety of reasons, but sadly some were just simply forgotten.
Yesterday's service was a ''beautiful'' way for them finally to be laid to rest.
''Our job doesn't stop with the funeral - and even I'm surprised how sad I feel at putting them in the ground because they've been with us for such a long time,'' she said.
''It's been a year in the making and we're just really proud of the effort that the staff and the community have put in - everyone has come together.''
It was especially sad to farewell Mrs Begg, whose ashes had been at the funeral home since 1983.
''She's been our friend for quite a while - we made up such great life stories for her, too.''
Mrs Begg's great-niece Janis Giles attended yesterday's memorial service.
She had been ''very surprised'' to see her great-aunt's name in Whitestone Funeral's appeal in the Oamaru Mail, she said.
''I didn't even know she'd spent the last years of her life living in Oamaru.''
After speaking to one of Mrs Begg's nephews, who attended her funeral in 1983, they decided it was appropriate that the funeral home was her final resting place.
Yesterday's committal was held at Whitestone Funerals' Westview Memorial Garden by the Rev Bernard Wilkinson. A plaque was donated by Crombie Monumentalists.
Mr Wilkinson commended the funeral home for its efforts to connect with the families of the forgotten and remember them in a dignified way.
''These are all people who have been loved in their time and so we draw their lives together with love also,'' he said.
