{"id":36648,"date":"2022-12-23T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T07:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/memorial-ceremony-held-for-the-unclaimed-deceased\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:32:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:32:46","slug":"memorial-ceremony-held-for-the-unclaimed-deceased","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/memorial-ceremony-held-for-the-unclaimed-deceased\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial ceremony held for the unclaimed deceased"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The community demonstrated caring action by attending Memorial for the Unclaimed on Wednesday at Artifacts 302. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

About 60 people gathered at Artifacts 302 on Wednesday, Dec. 21, to show their respects for the surprisingly large number of \u201cunclaimed\u201d deceased people in San Juan County in 2022. The Rev. Megan Cullip, chaplain and community outreach director for Basin Hospice, conducted the Fourth Annual Memorial for the Unclaimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was inspired because this is what beauty looks like, a community of people coming together to honor the lives of strangers,\u201d Cullip said. \u201cLoving our neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The service began with Noah Manz playing a Tommy Emmanuel arrangement of \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d on electric guitar.<\/p>\n

Manz said it was his first year to play in front of people \u2013 he\u2019d played for the virtual memorials during the pandemic. \u201cIt\u2019s cool \u2013 pretty nice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Noah
Noah Manz warms up before performing \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d at Memorial for the Unclaimed. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cullip welcomed the group by relating how she was inspired to create the memorial. She did some research and found out that the county has to claim them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thought occurred to me, what happens when somebody dies and there\u2019s no one around?\u201d she said. \u201cIt led me to believe that we didn\u2019t really have any formal laying-to-rest for these folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the poem, \u201cA Love Story,\u201d by Jeanie Greensfelder, read by Liesl Dees, Cullip gave a brief message.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here tonight to bear witness to these 26 individuals who died without anyone to claim their remains \u2026 I posit that bearing witness is of value and a complete action, in and of itself,\u201d she said. \u201cTypical memorial service you hear stories about careers, parties, success, trips \u2026 but we don\u2019t have that tonight. For these individuals all we have is the names.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cReading of the Names\u201d was done by Lisa Gomez and Scott Michlin, with bells rung after each name by representatives from the Farmington Fire Department, Jacob Fuller and Gary Groomer.<\/p>\n

\"Jacob
Jacob Fuller, left, and Gary Groomer from the Farmington Fire Department, rang the bells for the Unclaimed. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Those named during the reverent tribute were: Ezekiel Benedict, Tom Bevers, Robert Bibiano, Karel Ann Crispin, Charles Crooks, Marion Dudgeon, Mark Fulton, Darrell Hardy, Jessica Herrera, Margaret Hutto, Melvin Kiker, Joyce Ilene Lane, James Lasater, Gary Dean Lewis, Linda Maloy, Anita Maynard, Michael McAfee, Gordon Lee Orr, Samuel Powers, Dorothy Pugh, Tina Sanchez, Jazmine Schule, Sharon Schuler, Robert Shelton, Kenneth D. Vaught and Patricia Wilson. The program included the recorded date of their death.<\/p>\n

Robyn Woodard played piano and harmonized with Amber Swenk, as they performed Vince Gill\u2019s \u201cGo Rest High on That Mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cCandle Lighting Liturgy\u201d was offered by Jasmine Miranda, with Woodard and Swenk performing Teresa Jennings\u2019 \u201cA Candle for Remembering.\u201d Electronic candles were provided by Presbyterian Medical Services.<\/p>\n

The tribute, held on the winter solstice, closed after Jennifer Johnson, accompanied on piano by James Golden, sang the Jewel song, \u201cNo More Tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a phone interview Tuesday, Cullip said the county takes care of the remains, but they have to hold them for two years. They must allow that time for someone to step forward and claim them. She said her contact, head of indigent fund for the county, had a list of names of the unclaimed deceased.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Rev. Megan Cullip, organized Memorial for the Unclaimed in 2019. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In 2018, Cullip moved to Farmington to serve as pastor of First Presbyterian Church, a position she filled for two years, followed by her current role with Basin Hospice. The first Memorial for the Unclaimed was held there, but she pointed out the service is nondenominational in format.<\/p>\n

She has wide-ranging interests and roles in the community. Her radio show, Radio Free Saturday Morning,<\/a> can be heard at 9 a.m. every Saturday on KSJE radio. Her previous radio experience was at Princeton University, where she attended divinity school.<\/p>\n

Cullip grew up in San Antonio and attended the University of Texas-San Antonio. Her move to Farmington was \u201cmajor culture shock\u201d after moving there in 2018, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike coming from Connecticut, what the hell did I just do, like oh my God, it\u2019s so small and it\u2019s in the middle of the desert,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cullip has taught theology, philosophy and \u201cend-of-life issues\u201d for the Encore program at the college. The community activist said she loves it here now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community is lovely, it affords so many opportunities,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat do you want to do \u2013 great \u2013 do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She joins KSJE\u2019s director, Scott Michlin, for two Friday morning shows, which encourage community input and interaction. \u201cSolutions from the Street\u201d and \u201cThat\u2019s Interesting\u201d give listeners an opportunity to express themselves on the radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I love it . It\u2019s the coolest side hustle you could have,\u201d Megan said about her involvement with KSJE radio, based at San Juan College.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we can\u2019t fix death, but we can provide comfort,\u201d is how she describes the challenge of coping with what be can sometimes be a stressful job. Her approach is to not focus as much on the death part as the comfort part in helping people and families.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t hide death, but you can face it, and thus, live more fully and freely. This reflects the philosophy of Cullip. \u201cLive up to the challenge to be real,\u201d she said during the service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A season for caring about fellow humans and strangers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,28,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83411,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36648\/revisions\/83411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36648"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}