Woman Struggles To Finance Proper Burial For Gravely Ill Father

A dying father with no life insurance, and a daughter, with no income. A Las Cruces woman says she is desperately trying to find a way to give her 79-year-old dad a proper burial as the inevitable draws near.

“I never expected to be in this position, I don’t think anybody does,” Danya Donaldson said.

But she says she will not allow him to end up in a paupers cemetery, either.

Donaldson says her father, Maurice, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, suddenly took a turn for the worst.

As he lives out his final days at a local hospice, Donaldson says she is not prepared to finance a proper burial.

“I just don’t want to see him go into an unmarked cemetery somewhere that we don’t know where he is,” Donaldson said.

Her worst fear, she says, is having her father buried in a paupers cemetery, lost in a sea of white, unmarked crosses placed there by the county.

“Dona Ana County is under no obligation to do any burials at all,” Jess Williams, spokesman for Dona Ana County, said.

The only exception, Williams said, is for unclaimed bodies. It is a last resort and done only when no family comes forward for two years.

“My understanding is we have never taken from a family a body as part of this system,” Williams said.

Donaldson says she wishes her father, “had planned for his own services, or, made any plans and this probably wouldn’t be happening like it is.”

Donaldson says she stopped working two years ago, to provide full-time care for her dad. But never thought that time spent with him would now mean sacrificing the burial he deserves.

“You never expect to find yourself in this position,” Donaldson said.

Maurice was in the military for a short time back in the 50’s, Donaldson said, but was discharged for a medical condition.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website, any veteran who was discharged under conditions other than dishonorable, are eligible for burial in a national cemetery.

For more information on eligibility and benefits for burial services, visit www.cem.va.gov or the New Mexico Human Services Department at www.hsd.state.nm.us