SHEILA A. MATHEWS :::
The Spalding County Coroner’s Office has not yet been able to locate the next of kin of Thomas Earl Cummings, the 70-year-old homeless man who died April 10 as a result of injuries he sustained when struck by a vehicle March 24.
“We have pretty well exhausted all means to identify next of kin. Everything that we tried didn’t work out,” Coroner Sonny Foster said Wednesday. “I have called all over this country and the only contact I’ve made is a (former) step-son who hasn’t seen him since he was ten-years-old, and he’s in his 30s now.”
Foster said some information has been gleaned from his office’s investigation.
“We do know he’s a veteran. He served in Vietnam for two years, so he is a veteran,” Foster said.
This information will greatly influence how Cummings will be honored.
Foster said at this point, he intends to cremate Cummings and hold a funeral service at a later date. Those arrangements will be forthcoming.
“We’re going to bury him with honors in Veteran’s Cemetery in the Griffin City Cemetery,” he said.
Foster said he still hopes Cummings’ relatives may still come forward.
“We still have hopes that someone may come forward. We’re still trying to do the right thing with what little information we’ve got,” he said. “Somewhere, somebody knows him.”
Meanwhile, Foster knows Cummings will be honored in death as a veteran who served his nation.
“Veterans cannot be buried as a pauper or an indigent person. They are buried in a military cemetery. That is the least we can do. Local military members and veterans always do a good job and others may want to come and pay their respect,” he said. “They’re not forgotten, that’s for sure.”
