Twenty-eight people, ranging from an infant to a 90-year-old, were laid to rest Monday during Okaloosa County’s 11th annual Lazarus Memorial Service at Beal Memorial Cemetery in Fort Walton Beach.
- The interfaith ceremony, held each year on Nov. 2, provides a dignified burial for people in the county who die without family or the means to pay for their own interment.
“Thank you for taking the time to attend this memorial service for individuals you may not have met while here on Earth,” County Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel told those gathered. “Yet each of you understand the significance and importance of life from birth to natural death.”
Ketchel thanked the clergy, choirs, soloists, pianists, bell ringer Tom Rice and her commissioner aide, Judy Lorenz, noting the service takes a year to plan. She also thanked the funeral homes that set up the tent and chairs for the outdoor service.
“One thing we all have in common, death is the great equalizer,” Ketchel said.
How it began
The Rev. Mike Hesse of Immanuel Anglican Church, who shared the history of the service, said it traces back to 2014.
Ketchel was working with Catholic Social Services at the time and learned that between 35 and 45 people in Okaloosa County die and remain unclaimed in an average year, Hesse said. After she was elected to the Board of County Commissioners later that year, one of the first things she did was ask what happens to those individuals.
“We know they’re cremated, but then what? And everybody went, ‘We don’t know,'” Hesse said. Funeral homes told her they mostly stored the cremains on their shelves, he said.
Ketchel then called together religious leaders from around the county.
- “We thought right away that this is not a functional problem, but a spiritual one,” Hesse said.
The first service was held in 2016, after donations and volunteer work made possible the purchase of several lots at Beal Memorial Cemetery, Hesse said. Since then, 724 individuals had been interred before Monday’s service, which added 28 more.
“We don’t pass judgment, but we remember with all humility Jesus’ words that He laid on us,” Hesse said. “And He said, ‘As you do it to the least of these, my brethren, you do it to me.’ These are the least in our midst.”
This year’s service included 35 religious leaders from 20 or more congregations, along with help from Emerald Coast Funeral Home and Davis Watkins Funeral Home.
“Mostly, we thank you for being here today because you say these lives matter,” he told attendees.
‘This is our lagniappe, our one thing special‘
The Rev. Bill Elwell of First United Methodist Church of Fort Walton Beach delivered the sermon, centered on the parable of Lazarus and the rich man and on the Creole word lagniappe, meaning something extra.
Elwell recalled working in disaster recovery in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina, where the town adopted lagniappe as its slogan. He said that even today, a shop there will add an extra handful of shrimp to a pound or an extra item to a bakery order.
“Lagniappe is not just a word, it was their way of living out grace,” Elwell said. “Lazarus had no grace in his life.”
He contrasted Okaloosa’s service with New York City’s Potter’s Field, where he said graves are dug and the dead are buried late at night, often with no one present.
- “Notice we do it in the light of day, and we do it on a special occasion,” Elwell said, pointing to the clergy, singing, scripture, prayers and the reading of names.
“We don’t know their story, and that’s the sad thing,” Elwell said. “But we know that we showed up today to mark this occasion. To read their names because their lives matter.”
Elwell said he takes pride in the service as part of Okaloosa County’s identity.
“This is our lagniappe, our one thing special,” he said. “This is how we live out grace. This is how we celebrate that life matters.”
He acknowledged the service cannot resolve broader social concerns or mental health issues. “But this is a start for us,” he said. “This is understanding that life is a gift.”
The service
The ceremony opened with the Veterans Tower Bell tolling the hour. Scripture was read in English, Spanish and Hebrew by clergy from Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Nazarene and Jewish congregations, among others.
Music was provided by The Voices of Northwest Florida, a combined choir from FWB First United Methodist Church and Trinity United Methodist Church, and soloist Isabelle Schrack of St. Peter Catholic Church.
The names of the 28 individuals were read aloud from the Book of Life before the committal.
Next year’s service will be held Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2027, at 10 a.m., according to the printed program.
“ Your quiet witness stands before God, and our life is a gift from Him, and we return to Him,” Ketchel said. “ Thank you again for your quiet witness today. May God bless you.”
Those remembered at the 2026 Lazarus Memorial Service were:
- Sallie Bender, 64
- Janis Berzins, 63
- James E. Black, 64
- James Bongard, 66
- Michael Brown, 51
- Marlon Broxton, 69
- Charles Clapp, 76
- Roger Cornell, 60
- Michael Gaughan, 78
- Gregory Gollub, 58
- Michael Hand, 55
- Demetrus Jackson, 48
- Lawrence Jones, 85
- Antonio Leonard, 35
- William Miller, 78
- Ronald Owen, 57
- Tina Wadsworth Peterson, age unknown
- Baby Ramsey, infant
- Betty Richard, 90
- Robert Sikes, 74
- Leo Start Jr., 73
- Rozanne Tolley, 86
- Daryl Trawick, 72
- Mary Ann Wadsworth, age unknown
- Carey Wayne Wadsworth, age unknown
- Charles Neal Wadsworth, age unknown
- Kathryn Waltz, 43
- Douglas Whitt, 74
