| Honorary
Board Member Member infinitas Ad perpetuam memoriam
July 8, 1926-August 24, 2004
 Dr.
Kubler- Ross is a teacher of life. A true international citizen,
she earned her medical degree at the University of Switzerland
in 1957, completing her degree in psychiatry at the University
of Colorado in 1963. After years of study and research, the publication
of her first book "On Death and Dying" in 1969 immediately raised
the awareness of the world. Dr. Kubler-Ross has published nine
books dealing with the natural phenomenon of dying. Kubler-Ross
has been awarded over twenty-five honorary doctorates from major
universities. She received the Modern Samaritan Award and the Ideal
Citizen Award. In her wisdom she is teaching us about dealing with
the next passage of life. She became the pioneer who would compel
society to embrace those affected by grief while facing their own
death or the death of a loved one. She has dedicated her life to
helping dispel the enigmas and disenfranchisement of bereaved people.
She was cited in Time magazine's March 29, 1999, issue naming her
one of the top 100 thinkers of the 20th century. She has changed
the world we live in and made it a gentler and more peaceful place
~ in the face of sorrow and despair, her work has offered the light
of hope for our generation and many generations to come.
On June 29, 2001 Joanne Cacciatore, Director of the MISS Foundation,
presented Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross with an award. Here is a copy
of the speech made to honor her life:
In a rare public appearance, Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross received the
Platinum Wings Lifetime Achievement Award for her service to humanity.
The ceremony went something like this, as read by presenter and friend
of Kubler- Ross, Joanne Cacciatore:
Each year, the MISS Foundation honors an individual with the Platinum
Wings Lifetime Achievement Award. This is an exceptional award
intended to recognize a person who has given their lifetime to helping
change our world, and taking us, step by step, toward the betterment
of humanity. Let’s pay tribute to her and share some of the reasons
she was chosen as we travel down the pathways of her life:
Reading excerpt from Death: The Final Stage of Growth
"It is hard to say if my precarious introduction to life was the first
'instigator' to going into this field. After all, I was not expected
to live and if it had not been for the determination of my mother, I might now
have survived. She strongly believed that such little infants could only survive
if they received a great deal of tender loving care, frequent breast feedings
and the warmth and comfort that only home could give... She cared for the three
of us personally, nursed us every three hours... So perhaps the first significant
lesson in my life was that it takes only one human being who really cares
to make a difference between life and death."
Born one of triplets at just 2 lbs, she may have been tiny, but she
has proven, even until this day, to be one of the mightiest women
in history fighting against Goliath- sized forces of ignorance, hatred,
and fear.
Since her tender teens, she has been an activist for empathy and compassion.
Courageously fighting Nazi terrorist activity, she worked with the
victims of WW II and treated refugee children who survived the horror
of the concentration camps.
Reading excerpt from The Tunnel and the Light:
"I ended up in Maidanek in Poland, in a concentration camp where I
saw train loads of baby shoes of murdered children, train loads
of human hair. To read about this in books is one thing, but to stand
there and see the crematories and smell it with your own nose is
something quite different... I asked myself: how can grown men and women like
you and kill 960,000 innocent children and at the same time worry about their
own children at home having chicken-pox? And then I went to the barracks where
the children had spent the last night of their life... Maidanek was the beginning
of my work."
In 35 years of devoted service, she has never charged a single patient.
For many years, she specialized in helping children who were terminally
ill- many with cancer. Instead of ignoring the child and reality,
she patiently communicated with her dying patient and offered real
solace, respect, and comfort. A true international citizen, she traveled
around the world, making house calls in remote villages, dedicating
her life in the service of helping others in the most difficult circumstances.
Reading excerpt from The Tunnel and the Light
"She had opened the door to the hospital room and there was this mother
in a coma... a picture of total loneliness. Nobody touching. The
two little girls dashed into the room, jumped up on mommy’s bed... they
shared with mommy that they knew she could not hug them anymore,
but that she could hear every word they said and that very soon she would
be as free as a butterfly. The father naturally started to sob
and cry and finally hugged his children and communicated with them. The
next morning, Lorrie went to class to ‘show and tell...’ She went
to the blackboard and drew a cocoon and a butterfly coming out of the cocoon
and shared with her class of first graders her visit to her dying mommy in the
hospital and thus gave what we considered the first Death and Dying Seminar to
a class of first graders by a first grader... Because of this one shared moment
with her mother, this child was able to reach the whole class..."
She brought the first hospice to the United States. And as a medical
doctor, she was often surprised by the disconnectedness between the
doctor and patient- an unwillingness to share and communicate, honestly,
and about the plethora of emotions the patient or the surviving family
faced. She spoke out within her own discipline to change the ethos
in medicine and encouraged physicians to interact on a deeper, psychosocial
platform with their patients. She became a tenacious advocate and
an immutable voice.
Reading excerpt from On Children and Death (This is
the first book I read after Cheyenne’s death in 1994)
"No one
can successfully shield another person from the pains of life;
no one can take our grief away. No one can truly console a parent who
has lost a child or make the grim reality disappear. But we can
help them and be available to them. We can be there when they need to talk...
cry... when they have to make decision too difficult or complex to decide on
their own... In Laura’s case, the depression started long before the tragic death
of her baby before the delivery... her physician avoided her... she was sedated
and unable to grieve, unable to experience the depth of her pain, and thus unable
to start living again."
With undying fortitude, she has faced her share of adversity too.
Her farm home was burned to the ground. Lost were all her possessions,
priceless memories- photographs- journals of her past- research- she
had lost it all. She had planned to adopt eleven AIDS-infected babies
into her home. Ignorance, prejudice, and arson would interfere. This
tragedy brought her to Arizona in 1994.
She has touched you, whether you know it or not. She is the single
most influential force in changing the perception of death, dying,
and the culture of grief, introducing the subject as discourse now
mandated in most medical schools and universities. It is impossible
to have been born after 1960 and remain unaffected by her work.
The day I first met her, I was supposed to spend an hour or two with
her. I was mesmerized for 5-1/2 hours. There was tremendous love,
compassion, and truth in her presence. And even though her physical
cocoon is weakened, her spirit is compelling and valiant. And she
continues to inspire us all with her own words from her book, The
Wheel of Life:
There is within each of us a potential for goodness beyond our imagining;
for giving which seeks no reward; for listening without judgment;
for loving unconditionally.
 I
am very proud to present the Platinum Wings Lifetime Achievement award
to my hero, my mentor, and beloved friend, Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.
And with tears streaming down her face, Dr. Kubler- Ross was escorted
to the front of the room by her photographer and son, Ken to accept
the award. The standing ovation lasted several minutes as many
people shared the emotions of Kubler-Ross. Then several hundred
people joined in unison to sing "Happy Birthday" as she was presented
with a hand crafted silver necklace of the MISS Foundation’s logo
embedded with her ruby birthstone. As she put the gift around her
neck, the audience realized that this moment in time was a miraculous
one to remember and share with their children and grandchildren.
On August 24, 2004, Elisabeth graduated. We are very, very sad to
say goodbye to our dear mentor, board member, and friend.
Read Elisabeth's eulogy at her funeral services given by MISS Foundation President/Founder,
Joanne Cacciatore |
