Mystery urn found in front of Barrie, Ont. home reunited with family

The mystery behind an urn found in the front lawn of a Barrie home has been solved.

Back in May, Monique Bennett found the urn with the name Marketa Boruta placed in a garden near the front door of her new home in Barrie.

“I just wanted to find out who it belonged to and return it back to the family. I was worried it was lost,” said Bennett.

So Bennett took her search for the family to social media, sharing her story with CTV News Barrie.

Her search generated interest from Canadians across the county, with the grandchildren of Marketa Boruta being notified by relatives that their grandmother’s missing urn had been located.

“When we received the phone call, we were definitely very surprised, little bit stunned and definitely grateful,” said Jane Kovarikova, the granddaughter of Marketa Boruta.

Kovarikova says in 2016, the urn containing the ashes of her grandmother Marketa Boruta went missing, adding that the urn was misplaced during a move and never to be found again until recently.

“That was very hard on my family. There was a lot of guilt and challenges, there was no one to blame, and sometimes these things happen, and it’s a real gift that we can have Greta or what many know as Marketa back,” said Kovarikova.

Known to her family as Greta, Marketa Boruta immigrated to Canada from Czechoslovakia in the 1970s in search of a better life for herself and her family.

“She had a big strong personality, she was fairly charismatic, so we weren’t entirely surprised that her ashes were rediscovered in such a manner,” said Kovarikova.

On Monday, the family gathered at a cemetery in Barrie to honour Boruta while giving her a final resting place within the cemetery, a decision her grandson says was important to the family.

“It feels great to finally have found her. It was just surprising and nice to finally know where she is and to give her a final resting place,” said Daniel Kovarik, grandson of Marketa Boruta.

While the family honours Boruta with a final resting place, the mystery remains on how her ashes ended up on Bennett’s front lawn.

However, they say while the questions may never have answers, locating her ashes has created a friendship between the Kovarikovas and Bennett that will forever be bonded in the memory of a woman with an incredible journey in life and death.