Mother's urn misplaced but not forgotten

A local woman was overwhelmed when she learned of an urn with cremated human remains turning up in the back seat of a broken-down Buick at a North Charleston auto-repair business.

After all, the remains were her mother's.

"She is going to be resting because I'm going to scatter the ashes," Fatima Dickerson said.

The Charleston County Coroner's Office was still deciding Wednesday which family member would receive the remains, Deputy Coroner Bobbi Jo O'Neal said. The Coroner's Office retrieved the urn Tuesday morning and initially contacted the deceased woman's sister in another state about claiming it.

The urn came from a car at the Transmission Wholesalers lot near Rivers Avenue and Remount Road. The shop had towed the car several months earlier. The car's original owner sold it to the transmission business and discovered a gold and black vase while sorting through belongings left inside.

A label identified the vessel's contents as the cremated remains of Izetta Dickerson.

Her 30-year-old daughter said she had no idea the urn had been lost until Wednesday.

"In the process of moving, it was left with my youngest brother and he was staying with the owner of the car," Fatima said.

She thought it had stayed with him.

Her mother died in March 2003, just short of her 50th birthday, from complications after gastric bypass surgery, Fatima said. Born in downtown Charleston, the elder Dickerson worked as a registered nurse. She left behind a daughter and two sons.

Her daughter recalled she was "a well-known person, very popular."

Reach Noah Haglund at nhaglund@postandcourier.com or 937-5550.