Final grace: Program provides burials for Fulton County’s poorest of the poor

On a clear cold morning, three days after Christmas, the Rev. Clifton Dawkins laid to rest Rodney Eugene Daniel, 55, of Fulton County.

Daniel arrived in a black hearse at Lakeside Memorial Gardens in Palmetto, on the county’s rural southern edge. It was greeted by 15 of his relatives; Dawkins, the Fulton County chaplain; and Rev. Donald Bolton. Dawkins and blue-shirted cemetery workers moved Daniel’s coffin to a low bier under a blue tent, about 50 feet from a large open grave.

Daniel’s was the fifth burial of eight that Dawkins and Bolton would conduct that day at Lakeside Memorial Gardens, a large bare field punctuated by plastic flower arrangements. Each of those services was paid for by a joint state-county program for burial of the indigent. Georgia law says the county where an indigent person dies is responsible for their burial, but counties can set many of their own criteria for indigence. That’s often based on whether the deceased received a government benefit, such as food stamps or Medicaid.

In Fulton County, the program is open to people who die with less than $400 to their name, Dawkins said.

“They have to have lived and died in Fulton County,” he said.

Rodney Daniel died of cancer Dec. 17, his brother Kelvin Daniel said.

“He had been sick for quite some time,” he said.

On Thursday, Dawkins offered condolences “on behalf of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners,” then asked if any relatives would like to speak. Daniel’s sister Sharon Johnson was first.

“Rodney, we know God loves you,” she said. “We know at the end of the day, you’re getting your rest.”

Another sister, Veronica Daniel, followed, saying she would miss her brother but was sure he was in Heaven with other departed relatives.

After a long prayer from Bolton, Daniel’s mother Carrie Daniel spoke up from her seat: “May I add: We love you, Rodney, but God loves you more.”

Dawkins closed with a reading from Revelation 14:13.

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them,” he said.

With that Daniel’s coffin was borne to the open grave. His family was told the identifying lot number, and it was time for the next burial.

Approval for the indigent burial program comes through the state Division of Family & Children Services. In many cases the person may already be in the DFCS system, making consideration automatic, Dawkins said. If not, the next of kin can contact the agency to apply: Susan Bailey, the division’s indigent burial coordinator, can be reached at subailey@dhr.state.ga.us or 404-699-4387.

If relatives cannot be found, the hospital or medical examiner’s office may alert DFCS, Dawkins said.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

When an application is approved, DFCS will choose from 40 to 50 funeral homes for preparing the body and providing the coffin, he said. The department lets relatives state their preference of funeral homes, according to the county.

The state pays for preparation and the coffin, while the county pays for a vault and the actual burial, Dawkins said.

On Thursday, four bodies arrived at Lakeside Memorial Gardens before Daniel’s: three adults and one infant, the latter in a tiny white box. No family members were present for any of those, so Dawkins recited a short prayer at the door of the hearse for the adults, and their coffins were quickly trundled to the open grave and lowered into it.

A cemetery worker carried the infant’s coffin to the bier under the blue tent, where Dawkins and Bolton each placed a hand on the box. Bolton softly recited a short prayer, and the worker carried it on to the grave.

The seven buried next to Daniel are:

Johnny Watkins, 63, died Dec. 20.
Shawn P. Griswell, 56, died Dec. 3.
A baby named Gatalan, born and died Oct. 31.
A baby named Maëlla Hope Makongote, born and died Dec. 18.
Robert Christopher Strong, 55, died Dec. 16.
Frederick “Freddie” Barandon, 80, died Dec. 17.
Marcus Thicklin, 61, died Oct. 21.

Half of them had family in attendance, which is about average, Dawkins said.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Dawkins said he has been conducting indigent burials since 1999. At the start he handled about 200 a year, but that slowly rose, he said.

“When COVID hit we did 480,” Dawkins said. Now the average is close to 400 per year, he said.

Dawkins said he conducts burials almost every Tuesday and Thursday.

“I’ve done up to 15 a day,” he said. For the past two years Bolton has helped part-time.

Dawkins said Fulton buries more than surrounding counties because it is home to Grady Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital in Georgia providing indigent care.

If a deceased person’s family can’t be contacted or there are no relatives, they will be referred for burial by the hospital or medical examiner’s office, he said.

“Only about 20% of the people we bury would be deemed homeless or unhoused. The rest are working poor or beneath the poverty line,” Dawkins said.

When Dawkins sees news reports of a sudden death from a fire or a killing, he knows he’ll probably be conducting their burial, he said.

Public land near Fulton Industrial Boulevard was used as a cemetery until the late 1960s, with graves dug by prison labor, according to the county. Then the county contracted with two cemeteries, and in 1970 created the chaplain’s office to officiate.

Crest Lawn Memorial Gardens handled all such burials from 1973 to 1990, when the contract went to Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens.

“I probably buried about three or four hundred in that location,” Dawkins said of Forest Lawn.

The county switched to Lakeside Memorial Gardens around 2010, and 5,000 or so indigent burials have been conducted there, he said.

About 80% of people buried in the cemetery were indigent, Dawkins said. Originally a section was set aside for infants, dubbed “babyland.” It holds about 300, he said. But now infant burials are interspersed with adults. Nine out of 10 people the county buries are adults, while the rest are age 16 or under. Roughly two dozen each year are infants, according to the county.

About 100 per year are cremated instead of buried, but that requires agreement from three close relatives and isn’t much cheaper than burial — especially if the family can’t or won’t take the ashes, Dawkins said.

On Nov. 1, county commissioners renewed their contract with Mutual Meadows Inc. of Peachtree Corners to handle indigent burials in 2024. The $502,067 is expected to cover about 350 burials or cremations, including cemetery plots at Lakeside Memorial Gardens, furnishing of grave sites, cement vaults and perpetual care.

The average price from Mutual Meadows of burial or cremation is $1,425. Even with an $80 increase this year, that’s still about half the cheapest price the county could find by searching online, the contract renewal says.