CLASSIC ARTICLE: Washing Kathryn, Touching Death

Death in the Afternoon

Caitlin Doughty

Education, Society & Culture

5 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2022

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

No matter how long you’ve been working with dead bodies, nothing can prepare you for working on someone you knew and loved.

Episode Resources

This episode is an audio version of the article “Washing Kathryn, Touching Death” by Nora Menkin for The Order of the Good Death.

Helping to care for someone’s body in death can be a profound experience. Visit The Order website to learn more about your rights and options.

Have questions about becoming a mortician, or wondering if a career in death is right for you? Explore the answers in The Order’s Working in Death resources.

Funerals and the role of funeral directors is changing. Hear from five different directors about their work and how they envision the future of death care in our article Meet the Morticians.

Episode Credits:

Written by Nora Menkin

Narrated by Caitlin Doughty

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello again, it's Caitlin Doty, and welcome to Death in the Afternoon.
0:15.5	Today we have an absolute treat for you.
0:18.2	I'm going to read one of our most popular articles of all time.
0:23.0	You may have already read it, but trust me.
0:26.1	You want to hear it again.
0:28.0	This is stunning.
0:30.4	Nora Minkin wrote this piece about the death of her friend Catherine, and it's about
0:35.1	how Nora herself prepared her friend's body after death.
0:40.6	In some ways, this was not that unusual.
0:43.9	Nora has been a licensed funeral director since 2007.
0:47.9	She's formerly the executive director of the co-op funeral home of People's Memorial,
0:52.8	a nonprofit funeral home in Seattle.
0:55.8	But here's the thing.
0:57.0	It doesn't matter how many dead bodies you've seen or even worked on, nothing quite
1:02.5	prepares you for your first time working on someone you knew and loved.
1:08.6	The way Nora reflects on her advocacy and her own limits is what has made this piece
1:14.1	such a favorite over the years.
1:16.9	Enjoy washing Catherine, touching death.
1:25.5	She is lying, partially wrapped in a plastic sheet on a cold metal table in our prep room.
1:32.4	Her head is tilted slightly away from me, so I can't see her face yet.
1:37.4	I can see she is still in her hospital gown, and there is a port attached to her neck.
1:43.1	I take a deep breath and walk toward her.
	...

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