MIDLAND, Texas — Losing a loved one is hard enough, but then affording a funeral and burial service? Well, that can make things even harder.
People can anticipate paying around $5,000-$10,000 for a plot of land... money some people just do not have. Like Sharon Babcock, who brought this issue up to Midland City Council Tuesday.
“Everybody doesn’t always work in the oil field," Babcock said. "I always make that statement because they make pretty good money and I thank God for them. But we’re just normal people out here, some of us, and we’re just having a hard time burying our loved ones.”
She and her family are native Midlanders, so when her brother died, Babcock wanted to bury him in Midland.
Then she found out that doing so was going to be more of a headache and financial burden than she could afford to take on.
“I’ve asked so many people about plots," Babcock said. "It's $5,000-$6,000, plus the opening and shutting is another $2,000 most places.”
Midland County’s cemetery is full and only open to veterans.
Babcock says the other three cemeteries did not offer payment plans, so she had to bury her brother at Rose Hill in Odessa. There they offered a payment plan and only charged her $2,000.
“I didn’t have any other option," Babcock said. "If I couldn’t get into Odessa, I’d have to go into the next close place, which is Stanton. And I was saddened about that because it’s hard for me to travel even 20 miles.”
Babcock shared her experience with city council.
“For them to gouge, that’s awful," she said. "People are struggling. Some of us aren’t, but some of us are really struggling.”
Babcock tells me she wanted to share her story because she does not want other people to go through this.
City council turned the issue over to city staff.
John Norman, her council representative, told NewsWest 9 he is going to do what he can to help her, and find a solution for this problem in the future.