2025 Celebration of Remembrance Eulogy

Hello friends and family. My name is Zoë Boston and I am a first-year medical student. I’d like to share my unique perspective on the decision that your loved ones made in donating their bodies to medicine.

My grandfather, Bob Quillen, was a pastor for nearly 40 years. He was kind, boisterous, and endlessly giving. For the entirety of me and my siblings’ childhoods, he took on the role as our personal Uber driver by making sure that each of us got to violin lessons, cheerleading practice, and art class on time. He was an ever-dependable presence in my life. When my grandpa died in January, we did our best to honor his wishes by donating his body to medicine. My Grandpa was taken to Temple’s Medical School so that, even in death, he could still help others on their journey. I believe it is his generosity and desire to help that he shares with many of your loved ones.

Many of you are mourning your family members. You’re feeling waves of grief that come and go, experiencing little moments that remind you of them, and relearning what it means to live a life without this person. I am living through this experience right now as well. I want to emphasize that you are not alone, and that your loved ones are not alone. The gift of donating their body is one of the most selfless acts, and it is one that is not made lightly. In making this decision, they chose to enlighten and teach an entire generation of future physicians.

I had the unique opportunity to learn anatomy with donors both before and after my grandpa’s passing. After my grandpa’s passing, I had a renewed sense of what it means to donate your body to medicine. At first, I struggled reconciling the idea that my grandpa’s body was teaching medical students, and that these medical students didn’t know his quirks or humor, or his generosity and kindness. Then I realized that we as medical students do know the sheer generosity of this person by the very choice that they made to be there for us. While we might not have known your loved ones personally, we understand the importance of the choice they made.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.