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At the entry to the University of Michigan Med School's Memorial Gardens, white coated students greeted guests, handing out gold embossed programs and carnations.
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Inside the tent set up for the service, a sea of med school students with family and friends of body donors clustered in the center, in front of the stage.
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Medical Student Instrumentalists performed before and after the service.
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Five med school students spoke at the simple service, explaining how the Anatomical Donations program works -- and its impact. As they dive into lectures, books, and tests in the first year of med school, groups of six students each share a single body fo
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The Medical Student Chorus sings "Amazing Grace."
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The final remains, following cremation, are interred at the annual memorial service and marked with a collective plaque.
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My dad died late in 2008.
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Plaques honoring individual donors, purchased by the family, are placed on freestanding walls circling the grounds, in no apparent order.
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My brother Eric and me beside our father's memorial plaque, before heading off to an informal gathering at the Earl, in Ann Arbor, in his memory.
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Bye, dad.