CHICAGO — They sang and they cried and embraced along the concrete steps of the church. They wore black and red, clutched carefully crafted programs and remembered their brother, their uncle, their cousin for his infectious laugh and compassion.

They said goodbye, just like they were supposed to six days ago.

After the funeral services for Keith Young were disrupted by the discovery of dozens of mishandled human remains at a South Deering funeral home, closure finally came for his loved ones this week. Packed into a small West Side Baptist church Thursday morning — the same church that relatives waited outside of last week for a body that never arrived — Keith’s family and friends held the funeral they were owed. That he was owed.

“Saying goodbye is still so hard,” his older sister Angela Young said through sobs, briefly standing mid-service to address the crowded room. “Until we meet again, you will forever be in my heart. I love you Keith.”

As she headed back to her seat, Angela embraced another brother of theirs. The siblings held each other close, rocking back and forth.

“I’m sorry,” Angela said to him. “I’m sorry.”

Keith Allen Young died on July 26. He was 48. Born at Cook County Hospital, he was raised on the West Side with his four sisters and two brothers, his obituary relayed. He worked as a garage door installer. Keith was known for his dedication, his reliability and his strong work ethic. He was generous, devoted to his family and had the kind of contagious sense of humor that left everyone around him laughing, his loved ones remembered.

“We laughed about everything,” Kevin Pittmon, Keith’s best friend, said outside Thursday’s service. “When me and him was together, there was nothing to be sad about.”

Pittmon and Keith met as teenagers staying on the same West Side block. Keith was someone Pittmon could call for anything. He was there for the birth of Pittmon’s first child, even took him to the hospital.

The last time the friends spoke was the day Keith died. Pittmon had called Keith to see if he wanted to come out, but Keith said he had a baby shower to attend. Pittmon told Keith he’d catch up with him later.

“This is my later,” Pittmon said.

He’ll miss his friend.

“I’m just glad to see it’s over,” he said. “We just got to take it day by day now.”

A week ago, officials found 56 decomposing bodies at South Chicago Chapel after a complaint was filed reporting that remains were not being properly stored.

Their discovery drew immediate scrutiny of the owners of the funeral home, who previously operated a south suburban crematory that was shut down in March 2025 after the remains of more than 100 bodies were found improperly stored there. It has also kicked off a regulatory blame game as officials from several agencies around the city and state try to understand what happened and what systems failed.

The Young family had initially planned Keith’s visitation a week ago, his funeral the day after. They had hired South Chicago Chapel to handle the services. But as the visitation approached, the family grew anguished. They called the funeral home director, who told them there was police activity in the neighborhood blocking the way, but she promised to deliver Keith. He never made it.

Instead, his body was among those that authorities recovered from South Chicago Chapel.

The following morning, loved ones gathered outside of the Cook County medical examiner’s office, where the improperly stored remains had been brought through the night. As they waited for answers, the family stood hand in hand and prayed.

“This would have been my last time to be able to see him,” Keith’s niece, Deja Young, had told the Tribune steps away from the Near West Side offices. Then, she didn’t know if that goodbye was lost to her for good.

But Thursday’s service, Deja said, helped her come to terms with her loss.

“I couldn’t make sense of it in my head. I couldn’t. I couldn’t,” she said. “But today gave me a lot of closure.”

Wreaths of red and white flowers crowded Keith’s casket at the front of the small church. Prayers and remarks and music filled the hour.

“Now, we’re living in times of heartbreak,” Pastor James Hicks eulogized. “But you know the text says, ‘Grace unto you.’ And you can have grace in here. I think y’all want grace. You can have grace, you can have grace, you can have grace in a time of trouble.”

Kreshauna Brooks-Rogers had taken great care in ensuring every moment of Keith’s funeral was tended to. The Young family contacted the longtime funeral director over the weekend, after they’d received word from the medical examiner’s office that Keith’s body could be released. She was honored to have her funeral home, Brooks Memorial Chapel, handle his new services.

“It just made me more eager,” Brooks-Rogers said, “to right a wrong.”

A mortician for more than 20 years, Brooks-Rogers said she tries to treat each family she works with as if they’re her own.

“It should be your whole heart,” she said. “You’re being honored with the duty of preparing their loved one for the last time.”

This time, though, was especially personal. Brooks-Rogers knew Keith. Though she didn’t know it at first, she realized — as she readied Keith for his visitation — that they’d crossed paths a few years ago. They met by chance playing slots at the same West Side gas station. She never knew his last name. He used to tease her about being a mortician, she recalled.

When she prepared him for his family this week, she made sure to tease him back.

“‘See?’” she remembered telling him. “‘I got a chance to dress you after all.’”

After the funeral, Keith’s siblings said they were grateful to see the services through.

“Being postponed … it’s just delayed healing,” Leetonie Young, Keith’s older brother, said. “But now, it’s like we’re on that road.”

Stephanie Young, Keith’s sister, said her family was “just happy to have his body.” It meant the world to them, she added, to see so many people come together to honor his life.

Still, it was a bittersweet end.

Keith’s burial was postponed again by Tuesday’s storms. Hours before his rescheduled visitation, loved ones were told that the south suburban cemetery they’d planned on taking Keith wouldn’t be able to bury him after his funeral because weather had affected their facilities.

Cemetery staff in a call Thursday morning confirmed a tornado had touched down through their grounds on Tuesday and that they were closed for the time being as dozens of downed trees and power lines were cleared away.

Angela said her family was also still seeking answers. They hadn’t yet heard from any elected officials, she said. She wants accountability.

“I just don’t want Keith to go unnoticed,” she said.

In lieu of the burial Thursday, loved ones stayed at the church to share a meal. Filing into a room down the stairs from the church hall, family and friends sat at tables lined with white, each carrying a centerpiece of pink peonies. Fans blared as the summer heat persisted outside. The room hummed with quiet conversation.

Keith’s siblings, meanwhile, said they were still standing by for a new burial date, for when they’d finally be able to lay their brother to rest.

For now, they’ll wait.

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(Chicago Tribune’s Greg Pratt, Caroline Kubzansky and Talia Soglin contributed.)

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