For 23 years, the ashes of an elderly woman were tucked away at the back of a Mount Gambier funeral home, the small blue box forgotten and unclaimed.

With no family living locally to carry out her final wishes, the death of Olga Janczyk on December 14, 1992 in an aged care home, went largely unremarked and unreported.

But this week, the elderly woman was finally laid to rest at Mount Gambier's Carinya Gardens cemetery, in a poignant end to an incredible story which began decades ago with a young girl's childhood memories.

Linda Lawless was just six years old when she met Olga Janczyk in the late 1960s, remembering her as a "dear, kind and gentle old lady".

Ms Janczyk would beckon Linda and her young sister Fiona across to her small delicatessen on the corner of Wireless Road East and Penola Road, and give them lollies as they waited for the school bus in the morning.

Delighting in their company, the old woman would invite them into the shop to shelter when it was raining and babysit them whenever their mother needed her help.

The girls adored going over to the house of "old Mrs Janczyk" as they called her, saying her amazing doll collection was "almost as good as Disneyland".

A skilled dressmaker, Ms Janczyk would also make beautifully hand-sewn clothes for the girl's own dolls.

A few years later, both Linda Lawless's family and Ms Janczyk moved and lost contact with each other.

Ms Lawless was 20 by the time she saw her former neighbour again, visiting her a number of times with her mother.

But life took the friends in different directions, and neither Ms Lawless nor her mother saw her again.

"We always wondered what had happened to her," Ms Lawless said.

"There's people in your life that you remember and she's one of them."

For 23 years, the ashes of Olga Janczyk remained tucked away at the back of a Mount Gambier funeral home. ( ABC South East SA: Kate Hill )

Looking for Mrs Janczyk

Now 53 years old and an avid family history researcher, Ms Lawless decided to look up her old friend in local cemetery records, wanting to visit her grave site.

But she couldn't remember how to spell Janczyk, believing the name began with a 'y', and her search came to an end.

In July, while delving into a friend's family history, local land titles revealed the true spelling of the kindly woman Ms Lawless remembered from so long ago.

But when she contacted the cemetery to find Ms Janczyk's final resting place, there was a shock in store for her.

Dying at the age at 91, the aged care facility had held a small service before cremating her remains, as per her request.

But with no family in attendance to see out Ms Janczyk's final wishes, the small box of her remains was left at the funeral home for decade after decade.

"I was just horrified," Ms Lawless said. "They had her ashes on the shelf for nearly 25 years."

Olga Janczyk's emigration papers upon her entry to Australia in 1952 ( ABC South East SA: Kate Hill )

But there were more secrets to emerge from the passing of Olga Janczyk.

Seven years before her death, Ms Janczyk had not only paid for her headstone, but left a specific inscription for the grave marker.

Along with her name and date of birth and death, she had requested the following inscription: "War prisoner — Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1942–1945 — Catholic".

The kindly elderly lady who lived down the road was also a Holocaust survivor.

Tracing a tragic past

Astonished by her discovery, Ms Lawless set to work, emailing numerous organisations including the National Archives of Australia, the International Tracing Service and the Buchenwald camp memorial archive.

She was able to find out her Polish-born neighbour had been incarcerated in not one, but two concentration camps — Ravensbruck and Buchenwald, two of the largest camps in the German Reich, under her first husband's name of Gdula.

Ms Lawless' research suggested Ms Janczyk was also a suspected political prisoner, and worked in an arms factory during her incarceration.

Although Ms Janczyk survived the horror of the camps while thousands of others died around her, those closest to her did not.

Records show her first husband, Josep Gdula, died during the war and they also show Ms Janczyk was the mother of one child, which leaves a further mystery for Ms Lawless.

"I know she had a child, but I don't know where that child is," she said.

Immigration records show Ms Janczyk moved to Australia in 1952 at the age of 40, but her child was not with her.

Although Ms Janczyk was married a second time, by the time Linda Lawless and her family met her, her husband was already out of the picture, dying in 1974.

It was a surprising and tragic past for the same kind old lady who doted on a young Linda and her sister and made clothes for their dolls.

Ms Lawless had a new goal — to trace more of her fascinating past, find any living family and carry out her final wishes.

"She needs to be remembered," Ms Lawless said.

"Someone with a history like that deserves that respect."

Laid to rest and fondly remembered

Along with her date of birth and death, Olga Janczyk requested the fact she was incarcerated at Buchenwald concentration camp on her memorial stone. ( ABC South East SA: Kate Hill )

A determined Ms Lawless began an exchange with the state public trustees office, the cemetery and the service date was finally set for October 15, 2015.

On a warm Thursday afternoon as the breeze rustled through the trees overhead, Olga Janczyk's last wishes were carried out.

Just a handful of people attended the service at Mount Gambier's Carinya Gardens, listening as a priest said a prayer and watching as her ashes were finally interred in the peaceful spot, picked out so long ago.

Standing alongside Ms Lawless was family friend Bev Seymour, who never knew Ms Janczyk, but was captivated by her story and Ms Lawless's mission to carry out her final wishes.

"Fancy following that up," she said, bending to place flowers on the small headstone.

"There's not too many people around who would do that. She's got a heart of gold," Ms Seymour said.

At the service, Ms Lawless spoke of her wonderful memories of Ms Janczyk's kindness.

"Today we remember her and the struggles and losses she had been dealt with back in her home land. It is truly a special lady that can leave many children with such fond memories," she said.

Afterwards Ms Lawless smiled, embraced her friends and left a small bouquet of flowers atop the small memorial, something she plans on doing for years to come.

"May she finally rest in peace."