The Genesis Program: One Man's Decision

Last week, we lost a close family member to lung cancer that had been diagnosed only two months earlier.  Doctors had determined the tumor was inoperable and had given him only six to twelve months to live, and they told him that while chemotherapy might lengthen his life by three months, his fragile medical condition made it too risky to consider. Sadly, on February 12, 2011, his  short-lived but courageous battle with cancer ended when he passed away in his sleep.  


After his cancer diagnosis, this retired and divorced father of three adult children began to prepare for what lay ahead of him. Aided by hospice workers, one item included in these preparations involved the preparation and signing of a living will.  He was not a well-to-do man, nor was he one who measured his wealth in dollars and cents.  Instead, he considered his family and friends to be his most valuable possessions.  Because he had very little savings and no life insurance, he was surely concerned about funeral expenses that would be borne by his family. And it was out of this concern that he included in the living will a designation that his body be donated to medical research. 


This was our family's first experience with body donation, and although grief clouded our thought processes, we have all learned from it. Surprisingly, the organization handling the donation of his body was not a university medical school - it was a group known as Genesis. According to its website, Genesis, located in Memphis, Tennessee,  is a "willed body donor program for those persons wishing to donate their bodies for the advancement of science"  and works in concert with the organization's Medical Education and Research Institute (MERI.)  Not only does Genesis arrange and pay for transportation of the body to the Memphis facility, the organization issues six death certificates at no cost to the next of kin.  In addition, the agreement with Genesis includes cremation of the body after it has been at MERI for a period of six to twelve months, with Genesis arranging for and paying the cost of cremation services.  


At the time the agreement between the deceased and Genesis was signed, the donor specified in writing who should receive the cremains.  Genesis and its staff ensure the request of the donor is honored and delivers the ashes to the person or place specified in the written agreement. If no one is specified to receive the ashes, Genesis has access to a columbarium in Memphis, and the cremains are interred there. In our family's case, a social worker employed by Genesis made direct contact with the family and expressed sympathy for their loss.  In addition, the contact thoughtfully explained the entire process that follows the donation.


As most people know, the cost of a funeral is often more than the costs related to giving birth.  Although donating one's body to medical research is a serious decision and one that should be carefully contemplated, in today's difficult economic times, it may be something to think about.

Vertie's Ring - A Story of Lost Love

This is a picture of my paternal grandmother's sister, my great aunt, Vertie Porter. Born September 22, 1896, in Attala County, Mississippi, Vertie was named for her maternal grandmother, Malverda (also spelled "Melverda" and "Melvertie") Gibson. During the early portion of her adult life, Vertie was a schoolteacher. After teaching school in several places outside of Mississippi, including Stuttgart, Arkansas and in St. Louis, Missouri, Vertie moved to Memphis, Tennessee. There she worked at the University of Tennessee Dental School and lived with her older widowed sister, Etta Porter Parker, until Etta's death from cancer in October 1966.

Although Vertie was an attractive and educated woman, she never married. According to family stories, Vertie had fallen in love with someone in her early twenties, and the couple became engaged to be married. But before they were married, Vertie lost her husband-to-be in an automobile accident. I don't recall ever hearing her fiance's name, so unfortunately I am unable to include it in this post. It seemed that Vertie never met anyone else who could measure up to her beloved, so she never married.

For as long as I can remember, Vertie still wore the beautiful platinum filigree and diamond engagement ring her deceased fiance had given her as a symbol of his devotion. As a young girl, I believed Vertie's ring was the loveliest one in the world, certainly the most beautiful I had ever seen at the time. And on a few occasions when I was young, she even allowed me to try on the ring. My, how it sparkled! When I asked my mother some years ago if she knew what happened to Vertie's ring, she told me the sad story of how Vertie had given it to a niece who allegedly had later sold it.


Recently, I found the second photograph in this post while going through a box of uncatalogued old photographs that belonged to Vertie's sister, my paternal grandmother. Although there are no clues written on the back of the photograph, I believe it is a picture of Vertie and her fiance, and likely one of only a few that may exist. Based on the manicured foliage in the background and the pergola under which the couple were photographed, my best guess is the pictures were taken in the Spring in a park.


Vertie lived almost fourteen years after her sister, Etta, died in Memphis. After retiring from her job, Vertie later returned to Mississippi to live near relatives. And in August of 1980, one month short of her 84th birthday, Vertie Porter died.