Honor Vietnam Vet Mike Ayres: Urgent Burial Help

My dad, Dennis Michael Ayres (Mike) is in immediate danger of losing his rights to a Vietnam Veteran's military graveside ceremony. He is also about to be denied being buried with his wife, my mom, Gertrude Margaret Ayres (Trudy).

My dad, Mike, passed away on August 22 of this year after appointing his son, Joshua Ayres, as his Trustee. Since the date of my dad's death, Joshua has failed to use the assets entrusted to him to pay multiple bills, the most important of these and the focus of this GoFundMe petition being the Mortuary bill. The Mortuary has been attempting to work with Joshua for two months now and has been unable to reach him by phone, email, or even in person when they visited his home where he refused to answer the door.

I just received word from the Mortuary that they are about to declare my dad "Abandoned", which means his body will become the property of the county where he passed away (Placer County), which will cremate him and dispose of his ashes per their policies. This means I am about to lose all rights and access to my dad's remains because of the unpaid Mortuary bill. We have been given only a day or two to pay the bill to have the Mortuary release my dad's body into my care.

The Mortuary is willing to accept a minimum payment of $1230 to cremate my dad and sign him over to me, which will allow me to use his VA benefits with Dixon National Cemetery to provide him with the Vietnam Veteran's military graveside burial ceremony and bury him with my mom.

Including the extended refrigeration fees and other considerations, the total Mortuary bill (which I would love to pay because they deserve it, and because they have been so patient and tried so hard to work with Joshua for my dad's sake) is $5043.

He was extremely proud of his military service and the honors that would be presented to him. However, as much as the military ceremony meant to him, the only thing my dad truly cared about toward the end of his life was being with the wife he missed so much. He became a shell of his former self after her passing over two years ago, on January 28th, 2022.

To have these rights taken away from him after his death, to see him neglected and left abandoned, breaks my heart. Please help me lay my dad to rest with the Veteran's honors he deserves, and beside the wife he loved with all his heart.

I am only asking for $1230 to pay the minimum Mortuary bill to have my dad cremated so he can at least receive his military honors and be buried with my mother. However, if you would like to give more, a total of $5043 would cover the total Mortuary bill and would recuperate at least a portion of the costs incurred by the Mortuary dealing with this situation for so long.

To pay the Mortuary bill directly on my dad’s behalf instead of giving to this GoFundMe, you can contact Ignacio at the Chapel of the Twin Cities Funeral Home in Yuba City, California. The official phone number for the funeral home is (530) [phone redacted].

Any additional funds will go towards recuperating the losses I have incurred due to needing to take time off work to deal with this and other issues (such as his Memorial service, which was planned, prepared for, and executed entirely by myself and others in my local church, Truth Tabernacle in Marysville California).

Please act quickly; I am unsure if Ignacio will contact Placer County tomorrow or the day after, but he expressed today that the funeral home can't push this off any longer.

Thank you so very much for any help you can provide,

Amy Thomas, formerly Amy Ayres