NEWARK, NJ (AP) When Alfoncina Pansini died 75 years ago, authorities who apparently could not reach her family buried her in a potter’s field, where for decades her remains lay lost.

But now that 3,500 graves in Secaucus are being moved to make way for a turnpike interchange, a granddaughter is finally claiming Pansini’s remains for a funeral Mass and proper burial in the family plot.

On Sept. 5, a state judge ruled that Diane Brule could reclaim the remains of her grandmother, who died of a kidney ailment in 1928 in a northern New Jersey mental hospital. She was 42.

The ordeal has left Brule with emotions she called “crazy mixed.”

“It is in a way kind of happy because she is coming back home, instead of wondering where she was,” she said.

The bad part was, “just the fact that she was in potter’s field in the first place.”

The case is one of the few smooth spots in a bumpy ordeal to relocate thousands of remains that lay in the way of the turnpike’s $250-million project to serve New Jersey Transit’s Secaucus Transfer Station rail hub.

Turnpike officials are still seeking a final resting place for the remains, after canceling a $150,000 deal last month with a bankrupt old cemetery in North Bergen, where bone fragments were found in the area intended for the turnpike remains. The New Jersey cemetery board was looking into the matter, a board spokeswoman, Genene Morris, said.

John Keller, the project’s manager, said the remains removal should be complete and construction should begin by mid-October.

Brule, 55, is from a Roman Catholic family, and her grandmother’s burial without a funeral Mass or even a known grave site had left a painful legacy.

Brule learned from news reports that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority was moving thousands of graves from the old Laurel Hill Cemetery, which Hudson County had used as a potter’s field.

After some research, she found her grandmother’s name — misspelled — on a list of people who had been buried at Laurel Hill.

Brule said turnpike officials had been “unbelievably helpful.” She anticipates burying the remains within two or three weeks at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City, in the family plot along with her father, John Pansini.

As many as 60 archeologists have been digging since February on the project, painstakingly cataloging sets of remains, matching them with site maps and performing tests on the bones. Judge Thomas P. Olivieri granted Brule’s request for custody of her grandmother’s remains after being presented with positive statements from an osteologist, or bone expert.

Keller said other hopeful relatives had come forward, but Pansini’s remains may be the only set that is claimed.

“I’m glad that were able to make this match,” Keller said. “I wish we could have with more people.”

Today's top stories

Blalock Crews Build TDOT's $67M Newport Bypass

New Bridges Part of Iowa's $114M Madison Avenue Project

Eagle Bridge Co. Works On Final Leg of U.S. 35 Upgrade

SAKAI Achieves Record Sales, Production

Takeuchi Recognizes Top Dealers at 2024 Dealer Summit

Equip Expo's Summer Giveaway Offers a Chance for Lifetime Trade Show Registration, Gift Card, Hotel Stay

Tennessee's Pugmill Systems LLC Expands Its Product Offerings to Include Concrete Plants

ASCENDUM Machinery Opens New Savannah, Ga., Facility