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When the Sunday school teacher died alone in her Peterborough apartment in late February at 63, she’d left detailed instructions about all of this in a will.

She also noted that a $15,000 life insurance policy she had diligently paid into every month would cover the costs.Ìý

Nearly two months later, Berry has yet to be laid to rest, lying instead in cold storage at the coroner’s morgue in Toronto, waiting for Sun Life to release the funds from her policy so that a funeral home can receive her.

“It’s not right, it’s like nobody cares” said Cheryl Clow, Berry’s oldest friend, whom she had chosen to deliver her eulogy.

The womenÌýhad known each other since their teens, working at the local hockey rink’s concession stand.

“It’sÌýpretty sad that you pay into something thinking you’ll be taken care of when you die and then you get left in a morgue for two months.”

‘People deserve to be respectfully interred’

Berry’s friends described her as a selfless, gentle soul with a puckish sense of humourÌýwho never raised her voiceÌý— so they decided to speak up on her behalf.

Clow was worried her friend would be forced to have a pauper’s funeral as the coroner typically tries to bury or cremate unclaimed people within four to six weeks of death.

The bodies in the morgue are cold, but not frozen, so decomposition occurs, said Stephanie Rea, issues manager for Ontario’s chief coroner. “People deserve to be respectfully interred.”

The coroner’s office called Clow after Berry arrived for a routine post-mortem exam as required for any death in Ontario that is suddenÌýand to which there are no witnesses.Ìý

Clow was listed as Berry’s emergency contact. Staff asked if she was kin.

“Yes, by love not blood,” she said. Berry had lived with Clow for 14 years after a series of major health issues forced her to go on disability. When Clow got sick herself and had to downsize, Berry moved into low-income housing.

When Berry’s friends helped clear her apartment the day after she was declaredÌýdead on March 3, they found loads of cards and pictures she had kept from primary-school pupils who attended her Sunday school classes at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They also found her will and insurance policy and notified Sun Life about her passing.

Clow’s brother Ken Beasley, a retired bishop at the church Berry attended for the last 30 years, stepped in to help make sure her last wishes are honoured.Ìý

He initially reached out to Sun Life’s customer support by telephone to raise his concerns when he learned Berry was still in the morgue a week after her death.

“She wouldn’t talk with me,” he said.

Beasley called back. This time, a different agent answered and gave him a number for the company’s regional office that might help.Ìý

When Beasley called and explained what was happening, the staffer’s response caught him off guard.

“Who gave you our number?”

Beasley said the regional office staff admonished the other Sun Life agent. “I understand I’m a nobody but somebody should have taken charge. We’ve been dealing with red tape ever since.”

Berry’s will listed an estranged brother as her sole beneficiary. He wondered if Sun Life had attempted to reach him to settle her estate.

“I didn’t think Sun Life would try to find him so we did,” Beasley said. Working with police, they tracked the brother to a rooming house in Hamilton. Beasley asked him to contact Sun Life directly to get things moving. Ìý

When more weeks passed without an update, he reached out to the Star for help.Ìý

Insurance red tape and a missing beneficiary

“Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention,” Sun Life’s manager of corporate communications, Taylor Donnelly, said in an email to me. “While I can’t speak to specific client situations for privacy reasons, I have escalated to our Client Advocacy team so they can assist as quickly as possible.”

I called the Peterborough funeral home that Beasley had reached out to for help.

Beasley said he was told they cannot receive people without an assurance that the costs of their services will be covered.Ìý

That’s understandable. But I wanted to know how often this sort of thing happens. I also wanted to know whatÌýa funeral home could do, if anything, to help grieving family members and friends deal with red tape from insurance companies.Ìý

“We’re not going to comment,” said Dean Gemmiti, managing funeral director at Comstock-Kaye Life Celebration Centre. “I appreciate what you’re doing. You’ve got to realize we’re part of a corporation. I can’t talk to you guys.”Ìý

Friends hope to bury Beverley this week

Less than a day after I contacted the coroner’s office and Sun Life on Berry’s behalf, Beasley said he received a very apologetic call from the insurance company about the delay. Berry’s brother also called to report he had signed some paperwork and that things should be moving forward.

“A possible cause of delay on life insurance payouts could be a delay in receiving the necessary information related to the death,” Sun Life’s Donnelly told me in a followup email. “While personal situations vary from client to client, generally death benefits can be directed elsewhere, such as funeral homes, with approval from the beneficiary.” Ìý

Beasley and Berry’s friends are hoping to arrange a funeral this week.

I asked Clow what she might say at the eulogy.Ìý

Her thoughts went to their time the rink, which was full of pranks and paybacks between staff. Berry was often at the centre of it all.

Clow remembers her friend sprinting up a hill in a miniskirt and boots, laughing her head off after she’d pulled a fast one on the Zamboni driver.Ìý

“She was funny,” Clow said.Ìý

Beasley thinks Berry might actually get a kick out of the twisted odyssey to her final resting place.Ìý

“When we meet again in the eternities,” Beasley said, “she will have a story to tell. She’ll get a chuckle out of this, bless her heart.”Ìý