Although family members of JoAnn Kuwata laid her to rest Sunday, they are still seeking answers.

Kuwata, 71, a retired dental assistant, was one of three killed July 14 in the Marco Polo condominium fire.

“Not knowing is hard,” Kuwata’s older sister, Julie Wong, said. “Police, fire and the medical examiner — they’re all saying we have to wait until the investigation is over. There’s nothing we can do.”

The family had hoped to know how Kuwata died. They said she was found inside Unit 2615, in which she lived and rented for the past 20 years.

Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. David Jenkins had told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that although Kuwata’s 26th-floor apartment was not damaged by flames, it received heavy smoke and heat damage. Soot covered the apartment from ceiling to floor, and the heat had melted plastic moldings and light fixtures, he said.

Also killed in the fire were Britt Reller, 54, his mother, Jean Dilley, 87, and his dog, Eddie, who also lived on the 26th floor. The fire began in a different apartment.

The family held a private rite for Kuwata, who was a quiet and private person and wanted a ceremony with just immediate family members present, Wong said.

She didn’t like the water, so she requested that her ashes be scattered off Waa­hila Ridge overlooking Manoa Valley, where she was born and raised, Wong said.

Wong said her younger sister “read a lot and was into politics,” adding, “Whenever we got together, she talked about politics, the election. … She used to love to talk about what was going on. She’d watch all the news and we would talk about that.”

Some of Kuwata’s ashes were kept in an urn in which her birthstone ring, given to her on her retirement in 2013 by her five siblings, was placed inside. She will be buried with her parents in their plot at Nuuanu Memorial Park, Wong said.

Upon graduation from Roosevelt High School, Kuwata studied at the University of Hawaii, then moved to the San Francisco area, where she worked as a secretary at Standard Oil Co. She returned to Hawaii and worked for Kahala dentist Dr. Randall Honda.