All parties involved with transporting Jerry D. Moon’s body say they followed procedures and do not yet know how the Castle Rock man’s body was switched with another man’s prior to his funeral in Chehalis on Monday.
Moon, 72, died at Community Home, Health & Hospice in Longview on Oct. 13. Dahl McVicker Funeral Home, Kelso, picked up his body the same day. Brown Mortuary, Chehalis, transported the body from Kelso to Chehalis the next day.
Or so they thought.
Moon’s son, Brian Moon, Chehalis, said he received a phone call on Monday from Ken Dahl, the president of Dahl McVicker Funeral Home. Dahl told Brian Moon he cremated his father.
“Sure enough my phone rang. He was very feathery and unsure,” Brian Moon said. “I asked, ‘Did you cremate my father?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I cremated your father.’ It was confirmed.”
Meanwhile, the man who was scheduled to be cremated was dressed in Moon’s clothes and placed in his casket for the funeral at Brown Mortuary Service Monday, Brian Moon said.
Funeral staff moved the flowers and opened the casket. Friends and family were shocked to find the body was not Moon’s.
“That poor guy (in the casket) didn’t want any services or anything,” Brian Moon said. “That poor guy was dressed in my father’s clothes in front of hundreds of people.”
The family of the person in the casket does have his ashes now, Brian Moon said.
Dahl claimed in an interview with The Chronicle on Tuesday that no one from his business called Brian Moon. Dahl would not confirm whether or not he cremated Moon, but did say his business did transport Moon from the Community Home, Health & Hospice Center.
Brian said his family now has ashes that may possibly be Moon’s. However, the family is waiting for confirmation. The family has hired an attorney and has asked the Washington State Department of Licensing to investigate the incident.
If the ashes are Moon’s, Brian Moon said, the ashes will be buried at Claquato Cemetery in Chehalis, where a graveside memorial was canceled on Monday after the shocking mix-up.
“My dad feared cremation and didn’t want any part of it,” Brian Moon said. “He spent a lot of time and money and he wanted to be buried next to his father and mother.”
Moon was born and raised in Chehalis and worked as a Weyerhaeuser railroad conductor for 28 years until disabilities forced him into early retirement. He moved from Chehalis to Napavine and eventually settled in Castle Rock.
