ST. LOUIS Mark Rice missed his own funeral.

But his family believes it was his way of having one last laugh with them.

The 65-year-old was one of 10 siblings with a huge sense of humor, according to his family.

Thats why they are able to laugh at what started out as an emotional moment that ended in a new friendship and a restoration of faith for some.

Mark Rice died after a long battle with a heart condition. As his brother, Bishop Edward Rice, puts it: He had a bad heart, but he had a good heart.

Bishop Rice, who presides over the Cape Girardeau/Springfield Diocese, discovered his car had been stolen Monday from the parking lot of the Drury Inn at Forest Park. The window on the car parked next to his was shattered. But his was gone.

It was a Ford Edge, which, it's a nice car, but it's not like it's a Trans-Am or something, you know? Bishop Rice said.

In it were his vestments, a crozier dating to 1948 that Archbishop Robert Carlson gave him when he was installed, his cross, suit, his collar.

He had kept his brothers urn in his backseat, planning to bring it to the funeral mass at St. John the Baptist Church in south St. Louis.

He borrowed St. Louis Bishop Mark Rivitusos vestments and other traditional Catholic garb for the service.

Everything I used was borrowed, nothing was mine because I didnt have it, I lost all that in the car, he said. But we had to have the Mass because everybody was coming. So we had the mass without him.

My brother didn't make his own funeral.

He kept his composure through the service, but the bishop admits, he was worried.

I thought, We have to get through this, but in the back of my mind at the Mass I was thinking, Oh my gosh, we have to find my brother.

Three of the bishops brothers served as St. Louis police officers one of them, Leo Rice, is still in service.

So, he knew who to call to report his car had been stolen.

And, he knew who to pray to.

When I said grace at lunchtime, I began: 'St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please look around, something's lost, and they all knew it was my brother Mark, and he can't be found,' Bishop Rice said.

Then, at about 5:30 p.m., the bishop believes the patron saint of lost things answered his prayer.

Thats when Gennifer Bell called Bishop Rice's brother's daughter, Lori.

When I called, Lori answered and I was like, Well, this is going to sound really weird, and she kind of took the words right out of my mouth, Bell said. She was like, Did you find an urn?' I was like, Yeah,' and she's like, That's my dad. We had his funeral today. I'm like, Well, I got his body. He's in good hands.

Bell said she took her 5-month-old babys diaper to the trash when she first spotted a cardboard box outside a dumpster in her north St. Louis neighborhood.

She opened it, and found the navy blue urn with a gold embossed design on it.

At first, she said she thought it was a vase and showed it to her neighbor.

I'm like, You want a vase? and my friend was like, That's not a vase, that that's an urn, she recalled.

She found Mark Rices daughters name on the box and started searching for her online. Some of her friends and family helped her search, and they shared the message on Facebook.

She also had errands to run as she waited to connect with the family.

So, she took Mark Rices remains with her around north St. Louis.

She also shared her favorite drink with him.

I poured out a shot of Tequila for him just because you never know who the person was, so you know, treat them like family, If Im going to take a drink, you could have a shot too, thats the least I can do, she said.

Leo Rice met Bell and the friends and family Monday who helped her find the Rice family online.

Leo Rice cried on her shoulder.

It was very emotional for him, she said. It just felt so good to know that we made their day.

Leo Rice and his cousin, a retired St. Louis police officer, Matthew Madden, shared memories of Mark Rice with Bell and her family.

Turns out, the family grew up in north St. Louis.

For him to get on one more ride in north St. Louis, hes in his glory, said Detective Leo Rice.

Leo Rice said he's planning to remain friends with Bell and her family a friendship he acknowledges likely never would have happened. He is used to responding only to calls for help in Bells neighborhood, where crime is high and police rarely meet people because they are doing the right thing.

I definitely think that we made a new family because I have Lori texts me pictures of him, and they told us a lot about him and apparently he's the life of the party, Bell said. He was really loved by a lot of people and just to have him back made their day and they said that he was a joker and he likes to play a lot of jokes.

I said, Well, he really got you guys this time wherever he is. He's looking and laughing his butt off, like, I did it one last time.

Leo Rice and Bell plan to get together again soon. He wants to bring her some gift cards and other things to thank her. Her uncle was a police officer, so hes going to help her research his history. And he's helping one of the men who helped her find the Rice family get a job.

Weve made a friendship out of it, Leo Rice said. She could have just let the urn sit there, she didnt have to do all the Facebook and Googling she did to find my nieces name on the box.

The bishop calls Bell a Good Samaritan a character in the Bible who helped a beaten and helpless traveler when he didnt have to and who had been ignored by others.

I said, Lord, what do You want me to learn from this and there are two thoughts that came to mind: No. 1, to be detached, you know, all these things can be replaced. The car can be replaced, even the items, the things that I use as a bishop, the miter the crozier, they're not valuable financially, but they're valuable symbolically. If I get them back, I do. If I don't, I don't. And the second thing is, I have my health. I have my faith. All is good. I have my brother, and that's the main thing. Everything else is incidental.

Gennifer Bell said she was only doing what she hopes someone would do for her family if it happened to her.

I cant make this story up. Its just mind-boggling how it happened. I guess he was just placed in our life or whatever. Its just something I would want somebody to do for me if I was in that situation or if my family was in that situation. Its only right.

For many faiths, that's known as the Golden Rule.

Original post:

The bishop and the urn: How a St. Louis woman restored a family's faith after their car, brother's remains were stolen - KSDK.com