Caskets, cremation and composting: the business of death in New Mexico

Justin Crowe, president of Parting Stone, holds a person’s remains that his company turned into solidified remains. (Eddie Moore/Journal) Copyright © 2023 Albuquerque It’s not the American way to talk about death. But after months of staggering COVID-19 deaths turned into years — totalling more than 9,000 in New Mexico — death became a daily discussion. “There were so many deaths, it was so busy,” said Liz Hamilton, a sales representative at Albuquerque-based death-care company Passages International, who was a practicing mortician at the time. “… The funeral home that I worked for, it was, I mean, it was just overwhelming – and this was a pretty small town.” Funeral directors were sometimes forced to meet with grieving families virtually. There was debate about how morticians should best avoid contracting the disease, sometimes riddled with misinformation and confusion, Hamilton said. While her friends complained about being bored working from home, Hamilton was inundated with business. In the years since, the dust has settled in the death-care industry. But some changes are here to stay, funeral directors and death-care providers say, and consumers themselves are leading the charge. The kiva at Sunset Memorial Park, which contains an ossuary for cremated […]

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