A Michigan bridge official died in 2010. It took 15 years to lay him to rest

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A Michigan man who had a key role in building one of the longest bridges in the United States has been buried 15 years after his death after a funeral home near the iconic structure surprised the public by saying it still had his ashes.

Larry Rubin was laid to rest Wednesday in Petoskey, 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan's two peninsulas.

For decades, Rubin was the senior staff member at the Mackinac Bridge Authority, which manages the bridge, a 5-mile (8 km) span over the Straits of Mackinac that is considered the third-longest suspension bridge in the U.S. It opened in 1957.

When the bridge was built, "he had an important role because the Authority needed someone to carry out their decisions. He served with excellence,” Barbara Brown, a former board member, said Friday.

Brown said she was “just shocked” when she saw Rubin's name listed in the St. Ignace newspaper. A funeral home was informing the public that it had many unclaimed cremains. His family apparently didn't pick them up after he died at age 97 in 2010.

Val Meyerson of Temple B’nai Israel in Petoskey was familiar with the Jewish section of Greenwood Cemetery and aware that Rubin's first wife, Olga, was buried there in 1990. His name was already on the headstone in anticipation of eventual death.

Meyerson said friends from the Bridge Authority helped pay for Rubin's interment. About two dozen people attended a graveside service led by a rabbi.

“We all took turns filling in the grave, which was quite an honor," Brown said. “To have been neglected and forgotten for so long — it was moving."