Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, internationally renown psychiatrist, researcher, and writer in the field of thanatology (the study of death), is known primarily for her theory of the five stages in the dying process. Her revolutionary approach to death and dying was both compassionate and humane; it defied taboos and laid the groundwork for further study. Kübler-Ross is often given credit for having imported the hospice concept to the United States from its origins in England.

The daughter of Ernst and Emmy (Villiger) Kübler, Elisabeth was the first-born of triplet girls. At birth Elisabeth and one of her sisters barely weighed two pounds, yet the triplets survived. Ernst Kübler, although conservative and a strict disciplinarian, enjoyed singing to his children and took them hiking in the mountains surrounding the family's retreat in Furlegi. These trips inspired in Elisabeth a deep reverence for nature...