Skip Navigation

Online Extras

Alumni Essays

Dying Words


Pondering Death... and Life

Sooner or later, we all must face it. Death. Here are alumni who responded to our invitation to share essays, poems and reflections that reveal the personal side of science's efforts against humanity's eternal inevitability.

Cathie Borrie

Cathie Borrie
O Brother Where Art Thou?
My Father is Dying
Step, Step away

B. Brooks Taylor

B. Brooks Taylor
Either Or

Nicholas Cunningham

Nicholas Cunningham
Ibeji dolls

Liz Dzeng

Liz Dzeng
Neither system is perfect

Josephine Ensign

Josephine Ensign
Home Death

Ruben Frescas

Ruben Frescas
Death May Breed Life to Sustain a Cause

Sharon Griswold

Sharon Griswold
Death of a gunshot wound victim: Lessons learned from patient safety

Ira Harrison

Ira Harrison
No Death

Sara C. Hull

Sara C. Hull
Reflections on Forgiveness

Timothy J. Jorgensen

Timothy J. Jorgensen
Brothers Grim

Hung-Hung Li

Hung-Hung Li
Death
A Poem for Uncle John
A Poem for Aunt Ellen

Ernest Alan Meyer

Ernest Alan Meyer
A Limerick

Mary Anne Mercer

Mary Anne Mercer
The Empty Chair

Stephen G. Moore

Stephen G. Moore
My first time

Bob Rauner

Bob Rauner
Memories of Lew

Joseph H. Richman

Joseph H. Richman
A Child's Concept of Death

Kara Robinson

Kara Robinson
Death in Public Health

John Rockefeller

John Rockefeller
Not 'Beating Death'

Nadine Rogers

Nadine Rogers
Goodbye Again

Lisa Benz Scott

Lisa Benz Scott
The Plastic Box

Sally Trued

Sally Trued
Dead Baby

Majid Wangal Jr.

Madrid Wangai Jr.
Lived to 115 years without medical care

Rayna M. Weise

Rayna M. Weise
When the Tree Mattered More than the Forest

Judy Wong

Judy Wong
I Cannot Let These People Down

 

design element

Highest Rated

Make a Gift

From the Archives

Talk to Us

Amazed? Enthralled? Disappointed? We want to hear from you. Share your thoughts on articles and your ideas for new stories:

interest