In a solemn gathering set to take place at St. Joseph's Cemetery East in Las Cruces, the remains of thirty-six unclaimed individuals will find their final resting place. According to Doña Ana County, the public ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, October 23, at 10 a.m. The ceremony seeks to offer a respectful and dignified burial to those who departed this life without family or friends to claim them.
According to a statement from the Doña Ana County Health and Human Services Department, each of the deceased was cremated after remaining unclaimed for at least the two years that state law dictates. While alive in need of a final act of community, Doña Ana County has taken responsibility to cremate and inter these remains. Placement for their ashes will be in St. Joseph Cemetery, providing a communal acknowledgment of lives that once were.
This observance includes an open invitation to the community, allowing anyone who wishes to pay their respects to attend. In a gesture of posthumous honor, the unclaimed military veterans among them will be interred in the Santa Fe National Cemetery, where full military honors will be accorded, reflecting a nation's understanding of service and sacrifice.
Family members or friends who wish to claim the cremains are still welcome to do so by reaching out to Stephanie Barrera at 575-525-5866. As detailed by Doña Ana County, the names of these unclaimed souls are listed, serving as a final roll call, among them are James Beauchamp, Sandra Becks, and Clearence Bell, ensuring that, if in death they lay unclaimed, in remembrance they are named and known.
