Not only have Joanne Chaney and her siblings had to cope with the sudden loss of their mother, but they’re still trying to make sense of a bizarre mix-up that has magnified their shock and disbelief.
When their mother died suddenly while she was on vacation, her body was mistakenly sent to Canada, while another woman’s body was presented as Joanne’s mother at the funeral home in her hometown of Englewood, New Jersey.
The strange turn of events began when Joanne’s siblings and her 82-year old mother, Margaret Ann Porkka, went on vacation in St. Maartin in the Caribbean Islands around Thanksgiving, their tradition now for the past 10 years.
Joanne, an employee of Save-a-lot grocery in Irvine, said she often accompanies her family on their annual trip, but this year she was running short of funds and decided not to go.
Describing her mom as “the life of the party,” Joanne says she loved to swim, snorkel and belly dance.
On Thanksgiving night in St. Maartin, her mother seemed more tired than usual. When Joanne’s sister and brother went to check on her, they found her not well at all.
They told Joanne that their mother gasped for air a couple of times, and her heart stopped beating. The family began CPR and called the ambulance, but Mrs. Porkka did not revive.
The brother and sister with her said their goodbyes and left the hospital.
The next day, Joanne says, the local funeral home wouldn’t allow her siblings to see their mother’s body, because there was no documentation of her death at either the hospital or the funeral home.
When a death certificate eventually became available, it had Mrs. Porkka’s name on it but listed her as a man. The informant who had supposedly identified her was from another island.
Eventually the body was returned to the States, or, it was supposed to have been.
On the night of the viewing in Mrs. Porkka’s hometown in New Jersey, before her mom’s scheduled funeral, Joanne says the family walked through a couple of big rooms to approach the casket.
She said when she saw the woman lying there, she immediately knew that she was not their mother.
“Nothing was right,” she said, explaining that the woman’s hair and features were all wrong.
Joanne and her family convinced the funeral director that the body was not the right one, and he closed the viewing.
After checking for other physical characteristics that identified her, Joanne says they became more certain that the body was not their mom.
The family began to make some phone calls, and they learned that the story was even more complicated.
Another family in Canada conducted a funeral service for a woman they thought was their mother, although they later acknowledged that they didn’t think it looked like her.
They didn’t ask questions though, and after the funeral service, the body was sent to be cremated.
Joanne and her family are pretty sure that woman was their mother.
Joanne’s family had taken pictures of the body that was supposed to be their mother’s, and they sent those to the family in Canada, who confirmed that the pictures were of their mother.
After phone calls to the resort, the funeral home in St. Maartin, and the American and Canadian Embassies, it turns out that a woman from Canada died in St. Maartin only five hours after Mrs. Porkka died, and the mix-up apparently began there.
Although the story is almost too incredible to be believed, Joanne says she takes comfort in knowing that her mother died “in paradise, went to paradise, and suffered no pain.”
She says the whole resort was in mourning the day following her mother’s death, as people she had vacationed with for the past ten years reminisced about the loss of their fun-loving friend.
“She is going to be sorely missed,” said Joanne. “She laughed a lot; she served the homeless and was big in her Catholic church.”
The family is hopeful that their mother’s remains can be positively identified by the plate that had been put in her hip, which was removed after the cremation. The plate was numbered and has been sent to the medical examiner to see if it matches up with her mother’s medical records.
DNA samples have also been taken.
Joanne says the family is finally “very close” to getting an official death certificate, which they need to conduct their mother’s final business with the bank, credit card and insurance companies and lawyer.
Through the whole ordeal, Joanne is thankful to have her children living nearby to comfort her.
Becky, her daughter, works at the Estill County Health Department and is married to Joe Crawford, director of the Estill Development Alliance.
Joanne’s son, Christopher, is married to Loren Arvin.
The story has been widely publicized, and many people have talked to her about it, but Joanne has yet to hear from anyone who has experienced anything like it.
“If it hadn’t happened to me, I’d find it hard to believe,” said Joanne.