Bodies of knowledge: U of A medical school thanks ‘remarkable’ donors and their families – CBC

‘The human body is a remarkable teacher,’ says Dr. David C Williams

Apr 23, 2026

Before she died at age 96, Doreen Edna Buhler lived a difficult but remarkable life.

After the death of her father, she left the farm in Calahoo, Alta., where she was born and built a new life in the city, working alongside her husband at his family’s diner in Edmonton. Widowed at 39, Buhler leaned on her faith and provided for her 13 children working as a baker, pastry chef and cook in kitchens across the city.

But death was not the end of Buhler’s story.

As part of her final wishes, she donated her remains to the University of Alberta’s Anatomical Gifts Program so the next generation of medical professionals could learn from the body that had carried her through life.

“She was incredible. She really was,” Brigid Burton said of her mother Saturday at a commemorative service for anatomical donors at the University of Alberta. “She had this entire other chapter.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/anatomical-gifts-edmonton-9.7173028