Facebook post leads to outpouring of support for woman who died with no family

ROCKLAND, Mass. -- A woman passed away unnoticed, but the power of social media helped find a loved one and many new friends.

Pearl Alexander passed away Friday at the age of 78. She was alone, until Amanda Sullivan stepped in.

“We were looking for anybody who knew her. I only had her date of birth. And we didn’t want to lay Pearl to rest with no family,” Sullivan said.

The Sullivan family runs the funeral home in Rockland. After Pearl died, they could not find any relatives to call, so Amanda reached out to Facebook. Within minutes responses poured in.

Many were offering help like money and flowers or to attend services, and replies kept coming.

“It’s really skyrocketed. Over 1,000 shares already,” Sullivan said.

Finally, the niece of Pearl’s old boyfriend responded.

“We eventually found her companion’s niece who is going to pass the message along,” Sullivan said.

That niece also shared some tragic news long since forgotten, Pearl’s son, 8-year-old William Bryant Howland was also dead. He was the victim of an unsolved murder in Dorchester in 1978.

Pearl held onto that pain for nearly 40 years before her own passing went almost unnoticed.

But Amanda and her family helped make sure she will be remembered.

“You do what you can to help people,” Robert Sullivan, the owner of the funeral home, said.

Now Pearl has many more new friends who want to send her off right, all thanks to one Facebook post.

“People want to bring flowers and they just want to send Pearl to her final resting place knowing that she’s not alone, and that’s very comforting,” Amanda said.

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