‘We’re trying to bring the humanity back’: Meet the New Mexico couple leading families through final farewells

“It’s kind of a weird way to get to know someone.”

Bryan Beard and Claire McFadyen own La Puerta Natural Burial Ground near Belen, and their mission is to give families a personal — and somewhat unconventional — way to bury a loved one.

In that process, which focuses on environmental sensitivity, they have a lot of conversations about death and how best to honor the deceased. So Beard, who is at every burial, gets to learn about the departed person from the stories their survivors tell.

“The fulfilling part is doing something for someone I don’t know, and getting the best outcome for them and their family,” Beard says.

“Death has become very clinical,” McFadyen says, “and I feel like we’re trying to bring the humanity back into it.”

The couple took over from La Puerta’s founders in 2022, a career detour they hadn’t envisioned but one that seemed like the right fit.

There are no embalmed bodies or metal vaults at this 40-acre cemetery. Most of the bodies here are buried in a simple shroud or a willow basket, with the idea of “just allowing the body to decompose naturally,” McFadyen says. The bodies are carried to the grave in a lightweight cart, carried by those who serve as pallbearers.

Family and friends “lay the initial earth on the body,” says Beard, although sometimes they take on the job of covering the entire grave. Grass seed is planted on top to encourage the regrowth of native grasses. Sometimes families will lay flowers or stones or establish a native plant as well.

About 300 burial sites are here, plus 32 pet plots and an uncounted number of animals buried with their owners.

“I think one important thing that folks get from natural burial is when they’re putting their loved one back into Mother Earth, there’s that connection,” Beard says. “They respect their environment because their loved one is now a part of it.”

What prompted you to do this work?

Beard: A long time ago, right out of high school, I lost two friends, one to an accident, one to suicide, and it got me thinking about memorials and what they mean for people. And so I got interested in memorial design, and that’s what sent me to design school, because I wanted to learn how to make these memorials, essentially. So that was kind of a short leap to this service we’re providing now, because in some ways, we are memorializing their loved ones at the gravesite and through services. So it kind of taps into that.

McFadyen: What really drew me in was Bryan and I have been together for a really long time, and so I kind of saw that journey for him with the memorial design. And whenever we would talk about it, I always thought, “We need to think about the environmental piece.” I think with this concept of a natural burial, you are connecting intimately with the land and nature, and one of our biggest missions is to actually steward the land and foster an ecosystem that’s healthy and thriving.

What are some unique burials you have witnessed?

Beard: We had a cowboy burial once. His horse followed the procession, with his empty boots tied to the saddle. And then they had hay lining the bottom of his grave, so that was really beautiful. One that I will always remember, because it was so unique, was an artist whose friends had painted and wrote notes on her shroud. And this specific person was a paper artist, and she had folded 2,000 paper cranes while she was in hospice. They were laid in the grave with her.

What’s the biggest lesson you have learned about death from doing this job?

Beard: Nobody is planning. Everyone says, “If I die, I want this,” when what they should be saying is, “When I die.” I think that’s the biggest thing we’ve learned is people do not talk about this.

McFadyen: I think the thing that I’ve taken away from all of this is it’s part of a whole cycle, right? We’ve gotten away from talking about it or embracing it as part of the human experience.

How do you make it easier for people to deal with death?

Beard: I talk about my own and what I want for myself. Claire and I both want to be laid to rest in willow baskets, which are like a large basket that doesn’t have a top. We both bought blankets that we’ll be using for our whole lives and then when we pass, we’ll be wrapped in them. I like to share that, because oftentimes I can see how uncomfortable people are about the conversation. Acknowledging my own (death) really helps other people acknowledge it.

What do you do in your free time?

McFadyen: We do a lot of hikes, wherever we can take the dogs. And we camp. I used to be a raft guide, so we have inflatable kayaks.

Do you ever find it difficult to deal with so much death?

Beard: I often joke that I had one of the most fun jobs of making models and stuff like that, and I went to one of the saddest jobs. But you know, it’s very fulfilling when families feel like you did the right thing on their loved one’s behalf. It’s easier when you know that you have a greater purpose.

McFadyen: I cry at every single burial that I go to. I have to wear my sunglasses. But at every burial that I’ve been to, I feel like at the end the family is not leaving sad. It’s like they’re leaving very satisfied and very fulfilled.

Beard: But there’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think about death.