Jed Davis and his family gathered at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹¡¯²õ (JABSOM) to honor two loved ones who donated their bodies to science nearly 20 years ago.
They were among the attendees of JABSOM¡¯²õ Annual Memorial Service on April 26¡ªthe first held in person since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we arrived, the students came up and were talking to us. That was cool. We didn’t expect that, it was really nice,” said Davis.
He initially thought the students had known his late grandfather in life but later realized they had only known him after he had passed.
“It caught us off guard in a good way, but they approached us like they knew him and were telling stories about him,” he said. “It was a nice, humanizing touch to something like this.”
Davis¡¯ grandfather, Army Air Forces Col. Edward Jurkens, was a WWII veteran who devoted his retirement to volunteering, including at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.
“He just was always about giving, and giving as much as he could to other people. So to have a program like this where he could give after life was a clear fit,” Davis said.
His aunt Barbara, Jurkens¡¯ daughter, shared a similar spirit. “She was very involved with the Humane Society… it was a given basically,” Davis added.
A ceremony of gratitude
The Willed Body Program trains future physicians while honoring donors who make that education possible. For program director Steven Labrash, the memorial is a deeply meaningful event.
“In the 30 plus years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had an in-person memorial service where anybody wasn’t happy that they participated in it,” Labrash said. “It gives [families] an opportunity to see firsthand the appreciation the students feel and realize the reverence and the pono that they put into the service.”
Medical students and faculty shared heartfelt tributes, including ?Imi Ho?¨la student Regan Stradtmann-Carvalho. “They have not only touched our lives but will have touched the lives of all the patients we may one day work with and heal,” she said.
The service included hula performed by medical students and concluded with a scattering of cremains off Magic Island Beach Park, as families offered final goodbyes and the Celtic Pipes and Drums of Â鶹´«Ã½ played.
“I think there¡¯²õ probably no better choice you could make as you¡¯re passing away… there¡¯²õ no better program to honor that choice,” Davis said.