PORT HURON

Homeless hit-and-run victim laid to rest

Beth LeBlanc
Lansing State Journal

The flowers, the tears and the hands that shoveled dirt into her grave were those of strangers.

But Eleanor Denise Smith was more than a name on a headstone to many of the people gathered Wednesday at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Port Huron.

The 79-year-old woman’s story drew them together — a group of strangers who became the homeless woman’s family as she was laid to rest.

“While there may not be any family here representing Eleanor Denise Smith, we are her family today,” Rabbi Jason Miller said during the committal ceremony.

Smith, who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in September, was buried beside her mother Wednesday in a ceremony funded and attended by her community.

The story of the woman found by the side of the road with no identity or family to bury her was widely publicized, leading to a fundraising effort that garnered about $2,800 for her last expenses.

More than a dozen people, all of them strangers, gathered around Smith’s gravesite for the ceremony.

Bobby King, of Avoca, carried a large bouquet of yellow tulips and a red rose that were laid inside Smith’s urn vault.

“I just felt compelled,” King said. “I’ve been touched by her story and I can’t even imagine her loneliness.”

Audrie Friedland, of Port Huron, volunteered to lower Smith’s ashes into the ground.

“It just hits your heart,” Friedland said of Smith’s story.

Mandie Warneck brought her daughters, 8-year-old Amelie and 6-year-old Kylie, to the ceremony. She said the ceremony was an opportunity to teach her children respect for everyone, even those they may not know.

“I didn’t want her to die like that,” Warneck said. “I wanted her to die in dignity. I wanted to show my kids respect by coming here.”

Michael Kolb, the funeral director who organized the committal ceremony Wednesday, said Smith’s story struck him.

“To see that happen to a homeless woman who may have had a very difficult time and many struggles during her lifetime … I felt like Eleanor of all people deserved at least this, for us to say good bye to her,” Kolb said.

Dawn Robbins lost her nephew, Michael Cope, in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Port Huron Township Dec. 6. Robbins said her nephew was the type of person who would have shown kindness to Smith and attended Wednesday’s ceremony.

“It touches me personally because of Michael’s hit-and-run,” Robbins said.

“I think the lady’s story was sad to begin with in life, to not have anybody and be homeless, and then to die so tragically with no one caring that they left her at the side of the road.”

Smith’s body was found on the side of Oak Street in Port Huron Sept. 2.

She was taken to a Macomb County hospital where she died of her injuries. While investigators found Smith’s state ID in her belongings, they were unable to positively identify Smith without a family member’s confirmation.

When no family came forward, Port Huron police and the Macomb County Medical Examiner’s office spent nearly three months searching for X-rays or medical records that could confirm the woman’s identity.

In late November, they found a chest X-ray belonging to Smith at a hospital in San Francisco, where Smith was known to have visited.

The identity of the driver responsible for Smith’s death remains unknown, although police believe the suspect was driving a 1998-2002 silver Dodge Dakota or Dodge Ram pickup. Port Huron Police Detective Chris Bean said police are asking anyone with information to contact police at (810) 984-9711, or at the CAPTURE hotline at (810) 987-6688.

On Jan. 20, Smith’s remains were given to the Harold W. Vick Funeral Home in Mount Clemens and cremated the same day.

Usually the state provides a funeral home enough money for a unclaimed individual's death certificate and cremation. Kolb said, unless the person’s a veteran, the cremated remains are taken to Holy Sepulchre in Southfield.

But during the investigation into her identity, authorities found that Smith’s mother, Gertrude Silverman Smith, was buried at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Port Huron.

Knowing Smith’s story had been profiled in the media, Kolb launched a fundraising campaign in February to bury Smith with her mother.

Within 36 hours of a Times Herald article about the fundraiser, the GoFundMe effort had exceeded its goal of $2,200. A few more checks trickled in later, Kolb said, for a total of $2,880.

About $2,500 was spent on Smith’s headstone, urn vault, flowers and ceremony. The balance was donated to Mid-City Nutrition in Port Huron.

While Smith’s story ended in tragedy, Kolb said he was heartened by the community response.

“That is what the world should be like, that is how we as a community should be — there to help one another and come out for times like this,” Kolb said.

Contact Beth LeBlanc at (810) 989-6259 or eleblanc@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @THBethLeBlanc.

Hit-and-run investigation

Anyone with information on the crash that took Smith’s life can contact police at (810) 984-9711, or at the CAPTURE hotline at (810) 987-6688.