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Class of 2018 medical student Suh-rim Choe plays ‘Hymne A L’amour’ on the cello near a memorial candle during a musical reflection at a remembrance ceremony honoring those individuals who enhanced medical education by donating their bodies to science at The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton.

Photographs of deceased people who donated their bodies to The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton to enhance medical education were on display.

Class of 2018 President Maxwell Vogel describes his appreciation to family members whose loved ones donated their bodies to science at The Commonwealth Medical College remembrance ceremony.

Family and friends listen to readings at The Commonwealth Medical College remembrance ceremony.

The Commonwealth Medical College Class of 2018 member Amanda Radisic plays ‘Ashokan Farewell’ on violin during the remembrance ceremony.

SCRANTON — The first time his class met for anatomy lab, Dr. Max Vogel said, “all 100 of us joined hands for a moment of silence.”

During that quiet reflection, Vogel said, he realized the enormous gift several donors had given by entrusting their bodies, after death, to The Commonwealth Medical College.

“For me, that was my point of no return,” he said, explaining he no longer had any doubts about devoting his life to medicine.

Vogel, who is president of the class of 2018 at TCMC, made his remarks April 30 during a Celebration of Remembrance Ceremony that honored 10 donors: Grace Madeline Conner, Patrick Fanning, Hans Kummer, George S. Kutzer, Helmy Lahnemann, Willard “Bill” Luke, Craig Moore, Timothy J. O’Sullivan Sr., Suzanne Conway Pope and Donald Eugene Wagner Sr.

Medical students lit candles, gave inspirational readings and played several musical selections, with audience members softly crying through “Londonderry Air,” which is the tune for “Danny Boy,” and Bach’s Prelude No. 1 in C Major,” which can bring to mind the “Ave Maria.”

Still teary-eyed after the ceremony, Kathleen O’Sullivan Warner of East Stroudsburg showed fellow attendees the photo collage she had put together of her late father’s life. The collage showed Timothy J. O’Sullivan Sr., a former New York City firefighter and businessman, kissing his wife on their wedding day, socializing with family members, and traveling the world.

“He went to 40 different countries,” Warner’s sister Nancy O’Sullivan Baudendistel said. “He had a beautiful life.”

Their sister-in-law, Donna O’Sullivan, had received a bone marrow transplant while fighting leukemia, Warner said, and that was a factor in her father’s desire to donate his body to science after his death from a stroke in November, at age 77.

“He wanted to give back,” she said.

Another donor, Suzanne Conway Pope from Tobyhanna, who died in October, was a talented artist “always winning prizes,” her friend Susan DiCrosta of Brodheadsville said. Evidence of Pope’s generous spirit, DiCrosta said, was how she sent her friend a text message shortly before she died, not worrying about herself but inquiring about DiCrosta’s husband, who hadn’t been feeling well.

Pope had suffered with cancer for eight years, her husband David Pope said, and she hoped that by donating her body, doctors would learn more about the disease and be able to alleviate other people’s suffering.

But if a person is considering donating his or her body for medical education, that person should know it’s not necessary to have an unusual disease. “We’re looking for bodies that demonstrate normal anatomy,” said Dr. Bryan Wilcox, who is assistant dean for clinical education at TCMC.

Praising the donors for their generosity, Wilcox said he knows the medical students appreciate it.

“This is their ‘first patient,’ ” he said. “These students realize that someone is entrusting them already with a pretty sacred act. They’re the first person that entrusted you implicitly because you’re going to become a physician.”