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Bernalillo County holds indigent memorial for 222 people who died during COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Organizers and community members gathered at a Bernalillo County indigent memorial where speakers said the county performed its largest burial to date, reading names and anointing caskets for 222 people who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bernalillo County held an indigent memorial in which organizers and community members gathered to lay to rest 222 people who died during the COVID-19 pandemic, speakers at the service said.
Speakers described the ceremony as the county’s largest burial to date. ‘‘Just for caskets, this year has been the largest burial to date. These 222 individuals passed during the COVID pandemic,’’ said Speaker 4, a reader at the service.
The ceremony included prayers, repeated benedictions and the reading of names. ‘‘There will be no more darkness. There is no more night. No more night,’’ said Speaker 1, the ceremony leader, while Speaker 3 read a list of names that included Joseph Kelvin Duran, Joseph Ramon Pereira, Jove Williams, Joyce Lynn Siebert, Karen Lua Carrier and Karen Marquez.
A community representative said he attended on behalf of an individual who had been unhoused. ‘‘I’m here to represent Raymond Montoya. He was a person that I met at Convoy of Hope. This man was a homeless man. He had no one,’’ said Speaker 5, a community commenter.
Organizers anointed caskets and offered prayers for the unclaimed and indigent decedents; remarks emphasized community care for those who died without family to claim them. The service did not include formal county votes or actions.
Names were read aloud and brief remembrances were offered; the transcript of the ceremony repeatedly closed sections with the benediction, ‘‘Go in peace. God be with you. Go in peace. Be at rest with the saints and the angels. Now you are free.’’
