Five years after death, another unclaimed laid to rest

Posted Sept. 25, 2019

Roscoe Fellman died five years ago. He was buried Wednesday in the same Souderton cemetery where his parents, grandparents and newborn niece were laid to rest.

His older brother David was there with his wife, Judy, and their adult children, David Jr. and JoAnne.

Fellman family and Alex Balacki (far right)

Montgomery County First Deputy Coroner Alexander Balacki was there, too. He brought Roscoe.

Since his March 21, 2014, death at a Lansdale nursing home, the ashes of Roscoe Fellman had been stored at the county coroner’s office with the remains of more than 100 other unclaimed dead.

David Fellman had signed documents authorizing a county cremation, giving up his legal rights to his brother’s remains. His family couldn’t afford to claim Roscoe, who had no insurance or savings, he said Wednesday.

He had not spoken to his younger brother in 20 years after he cut off contact with his family, David said.

“Near the end, we didn’t get along good,” he said. “We had rules. He didn’t.”

In August, Balacki contacted the family after the Immanuel Leidy’s Church offered to bury Roscoe Fellman’s remains in its cemetery, above his parents’ plot. A digging company donated its services. The offer followed the publication of this news organizations ongoing “Unclaimed” series. Fellman was the seventh unclaimed burial to take place since the series was published in July.

“I was shocked in a way,” by the church’s offer, David said.

But he told Balacki that he wanted to attend the burial. So would his wife, and children.

Roscoe Fellman never married. He had no children. He lived at home with his parents until they died, David said.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army where he was stationed in Hawaii for two years. He worked in a factory, though no one could remember the name.

They described Roscoe as someone who kept to himself, and was a voracious reader.

“He was quiet, reserved,” Judy Fellman said.

His niece and nephew remembered him as generous, especially at Christmas time.

“Growing up, he was always good to us,” JoAnne Musselman said.