Jo Carol Kimery thought her final goodbye to her longtime family friend came when her family told doctors they were ready to have Lyle Eaton’s body taken to be donated to the Indiana University Northwest School of Medicine.
That’s why she was so touched at the memorial ceremony that first-year students in the program held Friday in what has become an annual tradition.
“We thought that would be it,” she said, adding that they didn’t expect to hear anything until they received his cremated ashes. “This is amazing.”
The ceremony honored six adult donors — Eaton, Patricia Kelly, Christina Brimm, Edwin Scott, Cathleen Mitchell, and a man named Kevin whose last name was not provided — as well as fetal donors who had given their bodies to science, which allows the students to get hands-on experience in their anatomy class. The bodies sat in caskets placed on the anatomy tables normally used to study them, with cloth draping over and flowers placed on top.
Ernest Talarico, an associate professor and course director for human gross anatomy and embryology, noted that the theme was “First Patient, First Teacher,” as the donors were the first patients these students had.
Students expressed their appreciation to each donor and their families in letters that were read aloud, writing that they learned needed medical knowledge and the ability to show compassion to their patients.
“Patricia has not only helped us but indirectly our future patients,” the students wrote in the letter to Kelly’s family.
They added that learning about anatomy is the basis for all medical knowledge, something they will use throughout their careers.
In a letter to Scott’s family, the students thanked them for both his and their courage in donating his body.
“Edwin’s presence in our lives has changed us for the better,” they wrote.
For Pamela Frazier, Kelly’s daughter, the ceremony was the second one she has gone through. She told the audience that her mother was so taken with the care and compassion shown to her husband after he died several years ago that she decided to also donate her body.
“She spent her days and nights reading those letters,” Frazier said, adding that they helped her mother through her final days.
Frazier said she now also wants to donate her body if possible and noted that her family remains in touch with students who studied her father.
The Rev. James Wetzstein from Valparaiso University spoke of what their gift means.
“Their gift is to us, and through us to all those we will touch and serve in our lives,” he said. “It is the most profound gift that one can offer.”
The service also included military honors for Scott and Eaton, who both served with the U.S. Army in the Korean War.
Student Rana Torabi said the ceremony was especially important to her as she was part of the prosection team, a summer group that allows nonmedical students to learn about human anatomy while also helping prepare the bodies for the anatomy class, and she had met the Kellys through the program.
Torabi noted how easy it can be for medical care and learning to become clinical and said that the class helps emphasize the humanity of all their patients.
“It’s really easy to kind of get tunnel vision and forget what you’re doing it for,” she said.
Torabi, who worked with Scott during the anatomy class, said she was able to learn more about him through pictures and a letter his family sent.
After the ceremony, students ate lunch with the relatives as photos of the donors and even those shot by Eaton, who was a photographer for the National Geographic, were shown.
Kimery, whose family shared their holidays with Eaton for 30 years and considered him part of the family, said the program helped him achieve a dream, as the high school dropout announced toward the end of his life with his dry sense of humor, “Finally, I’m getting into university.”
