Cremation Will Outpace Burial 6-to-1 by 2045, New Report Says

As funeral costs increase, some families are taking it upon themselves to bring their loved ones home.

Maggie Billiman, a Navajo Nation member from San Rafael, N.M., sits on the steps outside the Flame of Fire church in Gallup, N.M., on Oct. 29, 2025. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

GALLUP, N.M.—Maggie Billiman’s life had always been about her family, the foundation of everything that made sense in her world.

That world shattered on Jan. 16, when her only daughter, 29-year-old Kelsie Gregory, and her two grandsons, 5-year-old Matthew and 3-month-old Calen, died suddenly in Pilot Point, Texas.