Ordinary Deaths: Stories from Memory

In Ordinary Deaths, Dr. Samuel LeBaron reminds us of our need for human connection when experiencing death and loss. Based on more than thirty years of working with children and adults dying from cancer, LeBaron’s memoir contains stories of longing, confusion, love, and humility—often woven together. Sharing recollections from his childhood in rural Alberta and experiences from his career, LeBaron reveals a life of vital, intimate connection with others. His employment at a morgue during medical school, his early years as a clinical psychologist, and later careers in primary care and hospice in California, all translate into compassion and a deep understanding of death. Writing as he faces his own terminal illness—Stage IV lung cancer—LeBaron helps readers find acceptance and solace.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Magic Medicine 2. Worms 3. Voices 4. Under Water 5. In the Barn 6. Aunt Margie 7. Charlie Gough 8. In the Field 9. To Tell the Truth 10. The Laughing Cure 11. La Llorona 12. Día de Muertos 13. Second Chances 14. Permission to Breathe 15. The Ferryman 16. Winterreise 17. Fathers 18. Lost Horses 19. The River Styx 20. Dream Baby 21. Safe Harbor 22. The Tillandsia Epilogue  Notes Appreciations"  

About the Author :
Dr. Samuel LeBaron is Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology and was an early pioneer on managing pain and suffering. He currently lives both near San Francisco, CA, and in Victoria, BC.

Review :
"From the moment we are born we begin the journey to our inevitable death, and yet death is something we try not to think about. But from childhood, then as a psychologist, a morgue assistant, a physician, and finally as a patient, Samuel LeBaron has never stopped thinking about death. His unflinching gaze and profound insight, together with his lyrical and even rapturous prose, remind us that life is precious and poignant precisely because it ends. Simply put, Ordinary Deaths is extraordinary."—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone "If we consider death at all, we tend to load it with drama—but the truth of death is more accessible, and less terrifying, if we’d only dare to look. Using his considerable imagination and experience, Samuel helps us to see the truth before us: profound and plain." —BJ Miller, physician, author "Ordinary Deaths is a memoir that illuminates difficult topics of pain, illness, and death with the kindness of curiosity, converting these fearsome mysteries into shared experience. Samuel LeBaron proves we take comfort in communion, whether we are a five year-old facing bone marrow testing or the author, who himself is living with stage four lung cancer. LeBaron’s work in psychology and medicine, like his prose, is dappled with a naturalist’s gift for noticing." —Elee Kraljii Gardiner, editor of Against Death: 35 Essays on Living Samuel LeBaron … has collected his lessons from a lifelong dance with death into a profound memoir…. LeBaron’s recollections brim with emotional insights, celebrate the virtue of honesty between caregiver and patient, and authentically depict the value of letting each person find their particular way to peace and acceptance…. Ordinary Deaths reminds us that each individual’s path to death is as different and unique as their own life has been. In our death-denying world, that is extraordinary indeed.” John Terauds, Quill & Quire, August 31, 2022 [Full review at https://quillandquire.com/review/ordinary-deaths-stories-from-memory/] “Dr. LeBaron balances compassion, emotional connection, and knowledge as he bravely confronts, and learns from, mortal illness in nature, patients, those he loves, and ultimately in himself. He shows how life and death are inextricably linked and invites us to appreciate that we are truly part of a spiral that connects us with each other on the deepest human level. In Ordinary Deaths, readers will find honesty, wisdom, and grace.” Dr. Joseph D. Stern, author of Grief Connects Us: A Neurosurgeon’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and Compassion "Writing [Ordinary Deaths] was a 15-year process made all the more poignant by the fact that LeBaron is, himself, dying. Two and a half years ago, LeBaron was diagnosed with stage-4 lung cancer…. LeBaron’s ability to hold space for the uncertainty, mystery and doubts we have about dying is anything but ordinary." Deb Cummings, Alumni News, October 10, 2022 [Full article at https://alumni.ucalgary.ca/news/ordinary-deaths-anything] "Through LeBaron’s stories and the filter of his imagination, we witness his experiences as psychologist, physician and person. His clinical testimony makes us reflect: We may not want to look at death, but we can’t look away from it either. Our fascination with the death of others is often accompanied by the denial of our own death.... But the book is more than a memoir of how to face death: Ordinary Deaths is about how to face life." Tony Errichetti, The Intima, October 24, 2022 [Full review at https://www.theintima.org/book-reviews-intima/ordinarydeathbysamuellebaron] In Ordinary Deaths, Dr. Samuel LeBaron reminds us of our need for human connection when experiencing death and loss. Based on more than thirty years of working with children and adults dying from cancer, LeBaron’s memoir contains stories of longing, confusion, love, and humility—often woven together. Sharing recollections from his childhood in rural Alberta and experiences from his career, LeBaron reveals a life of vital, intimate connection with others. His employment at a morgue during medical school, his early years as a clinical psychologist, and later careers in primary care and hospice in California, all translate into compassion and a deep understanding of death. Writing as he faces his own terminal illness—Stage IV lung cancer—LeBaron helps readers find acceptance and solace. "Time and time again, LeBaron’s often achingly personal narrative showcases vulnerability as a superpower... [The] earnest openness that LeBaron brings to his clinical work should serve as a north star for learners and practitioners of family medicine alike. Through first-person narrative rich with detail and tenderness, LeBaron illuminates the challenges faced by the dying and their caregivers... [The] book’s poignancy and depth place it shoulder to shoulder with other similar great works such as Frank Ostaseski’s The Five Invitations and Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal. The book is highly recommended for learners, practitioners, and anyone else seeking insight and resilience navigating the process of death and dying." Michael Layne, Family Medicine, 2025;57(7) [Full review at https://journals.stfm.org/familymedicine/2025/july-august/br-layne-0457/]