近距离内射合集

With gentle hands, Diannah Vigil draped a cream-colored satin sash over her father鈥檚 casket Thursday, a final resting place he shares with 42 other residents of Bernalillo County.

His name, Francisco Edwardo Alberto Vigil, is emblazoned in black cursive alongside Christy Nel Duran, Robert Dean Henson and dozens of others whose families could not afford to bury them or never claimed their remains.

鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to be forgotten when you don鈥檛 have money or power,鈥� Vigil said.

That fate is what officials at Bernalillo County hope to avoid each year with an annual indigent and unclaimed memorial service. This year, the county buried the cremated remains of 170 people in four silver caskets.

鈥淔or up to two years, our team worked to locate family members and loved ones, hoping to find someone who could tell us about these individuals, someone who knew them, cared about them and could help bring their stories home,鈥� said County Manager Cindy Chavez before the eulogy. 鈥淪ometimes, despite our best efforts, we were unable to find that connection.鈥�

Vigil is one of about a dozen family members who gathered at Fairview Memorial Park in Albuquerque to say farewell to loved ones several years after their deaths. For Vigil, the wait was two years.

As the last living member of her family, she did not have the funds to bury her father. While she waited, she did what she could to keep his memory alive.

Her father was born humbly in Espa帽ola, where he bathed in the Rio Grande as a child because his family home had no running water. As an adult Alberto Vigil loved motorcycles, hot rods and his small Pekingese pup named Hito.

Vigil described her father as a rebel who frequently ran afoul of the law but whom she loved nonetheless. He died in 2024 at age 82 after being hit by a car in Albuquerque, she said. His friends and family called him Eddie, forgoing his long formal Spanish name.

鈥淚t all still feels really sudden,鈥� Vigil said. 鈥淚 miss him, I miss my family.鈥�

Not everyone had family or friends to mourn them; in fact, the majority of the 170 people buried Thursday did not. In their place, Bernalillo County staff, firefighters and state politicians laid flowers on top of their caskets.

鈥淭hey're not just statistics, and they're not just names on a list,鈥� said Robert Noblin, the owner of Director鈥檚 Choice Mortuary Service, which partners with the county each year. 鈥淭hey were once part of our community. They walked our streets. They shared in many of the same struggles that we all share in. They were an important part of the fabric of life here in our state, (in) Bernalillo County.鈥�

For one family, the service gave resolution to some unanswered questions.

Frances Rivas-Sepeda had not seen her older brother in three years. On Aug. 28, she saw his name, Benjamin 鈥淏enji鈥� Tapia, listed in the memorial brochure online.

Rivas-Sepeda remembers her older brother as a mischievous little boy who loved beans and apple pie. After Tapia was sent to a boys home during their childhood, the siblings grew apart. As adults they didn鈥檛 speak often, she said.

鈥淲e'd find him off and on here and there,鈥� Rivas-Sepeda said.

Though the memorial service gave some closure, Rivas-Sepeda still doesn鈥檛 know how or when her brother died. She estimates he was in his 60s and knows he was cremated in January 2024. Because her brother used different street names, she鈥檚 unsure if she鈥檒l ever fully know what happened.

As Rivas-Sepeda and her family stood to leave, several rows over, Vigil remained, sitting patiently in a white folding chair with silver-streaked brown hair spilling over her narrow shoulders.

Though her father鈥檚 casket and funeral were shared with many, Vigil hoped for a private moment to say her final goodbyes.

Gillian Barkhurst is a general assignment reporter for the Journal. She can be reached at gbarkhurst@abqjournal.com.