Why do some individuals choose to be with those who are approaching end of life, or to minister to the dying and even prepare bodies for their final rites? Come meet a variety of individuals who have made exactly such a choice. Learn what they do and what motivates them to do it.

Mark and Elizabeth Barna, co-authors of A Christian Ending, have been ministering to the dying and the dead of their Orthodox Christian parish in South Carolina for decades.

Steve Gordon, co-author of Let’s Talk About Death, is founder of The Handto Heart Project, a non-profit that offers massage to advanced cancer patients.

Kathryn Kirkland, M.D., is current head of the Palliative Care unit of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Lee Webster is current President of the National Home Funeral Alliance, Green Burial Council board member, and Director of NHFREA, Central NH & Lakes Region

Michael Whitman is casketmaker and volunteer educator on funeral homes

The panel will be moderated by Irene Kacandes, the Dartmouth Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature, coordinator of “Medicine, Humanities, Social Science” study group, and co-author with Steve Gordon of Let’s Talk About Death.

The Norwich Bookstore will offer relevant books for sale. There will be a reception following in the Russo Gallery of the Haldeman Building.