A man hauled his uncle’s body across the country to an Ozarks cemetery. Here's why

Barry Cummings drove 1,730 miles with a dead man in the back seat of his aging Chevy Suburban.

There was nothing nefarious about the retiree's recent trip from Fresno, California, to a remote area near Springfield, but there were feelings of fulfillment and closure once the corpse was buried — again.

Eighty-three years ago, Cummings' uncle, Eric Cummings, was killed by a hunter's errant bullet while hiking in Fresno County, where the 18-year-old had lived for roughly two years after relocating from Greenfield in a search for opportunity amid the Great Depression.

His parents, now buried in Everton, couldn't afford to make the trek to their son's California funeral, which, according to a Fresno newspaper's archives, was attended by several of his Sanger High School Class of 1941 peers. He was slated to graduate that year.

Following his sister's 2018 death, in which she requested to be laid to rest in Everton alongside her parents and several other relatives, the family began concocting a plan to transfer the remains of Eric Cummings — who had been buried for decades in California — to the Ozarks, so their headstones could be near each other at Liberty Cemetery.

It came to fruition April 16 thanks to his nephew Barry Cummings, a Montana resident who made the pick-up and transport with his own vehicle following a lengthy exhumation process.

"Was it creepy? Not at all," said Cummings, who drove halfway across the country with a new casket and old headstone. "There was a comforting feeling in getting him home."

The family had to jump through some bureaucratic hoops and wait for COVID-19 restrictions to loosen in California before Eric Cummings could be interred with his Missouri family.

Initially, they were expecting only fragments of his body to be left due to deterioration over the years and had planned for a cremation.

That wouldn't be the case.

"We didn't think there'd be much of him left and that we'd have to sift through dirt to find bones," Cummings said. "But he was very much intact, from top to bottom. He was wearing a suit, his red hair was combed."

The late teen, who attended school in the Greenfield area through his sophomore year before joining his sister in California, had been laid to rest with a comb in his pocket.

More: Missouri morel hunters continue to discover unpleasant surprise — human remains

As solemn as the situation had been, the family didn't avoid dark humor. During his cross-country drive with the remains of Eric Cummings in tow, Barry Cummings spoke to a relative on the phone as music played, mentioning the things Eric didn't live to see and that he may meet John Lennon and Elvis in heaven.

"I had the permit to get him out (of the California) cemetery and into (the Missouri) cemetery, but nothing in between," Cummings joked.

When he arrived in Everton, he was met by a mortician and a crew that dug the grave, and a ceremony for Cummings is planned for August. The entire transfer process, permits, labor and a new casket, cost roughly $10,000.

Cummings' death had been a mystery until investigators later tied the teen's death to a 66-year-old hunter's gun, a man who reportedly sent the victim's parents in Missouri an apology letter along with $5.

Sanger High School was also helpful, allowing Barry Cummings to learn about this relative through their yearbook. Since he died before receiving his high school diploma, the school recently added his name to one, which included a holder for the certificate that displayed the mountain on which the teen was killed.

"I met a teacher who was quite fascinated with the story, and I got a tour of the area of where it happened," Cummings said. "A lot of people were helpful with this."

Ryan Collingwood covers a wide range of topics for the News-Leader with an emphasis on public safety. He can be reached by phone at 417-258-8174 and email at rcollingwood@news-leader.com. You can also follow Ryan on social media at X.com/rwcollingwood

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Man hauls uncle’s corpse from California to Ozarks cemetery