Author Mary Jumbelic reads her memoir, Here, Where Death Delights, at Doyle's Books in Fayetteville, New York. Credit: Marc Safran

For years Mary Jumbelic questioned her father’s untimely death. 

It led to her curiosity about death, a 25-year career as a forensic pathologist and now weaving stories about her life and tragedies. 

Jumbelic, Onondaga County’s former chief medical examiner, wrote and published her first book: Here, Where Death Delights, a literary memoir detailing how she used her career to navigate life after her father’s death.

“I can see the arc of my story that his death was unresolved for me and I didn’t understand, totally, how or why he died,” Jumbelic said. “And, thus I go on to having a career explaining that to people and I’m really trying to answer it for myself.” 

Jumbelic published the book in November 2023, but has been hosting events to promote it. She’ll be appearing at an International Women’s Day Celebration of CNY Authors on March 8, a book reading at the Onondaga Free Library on March 9 and a presentation of her book at the Community Library of DeWitt and Jamesville on March 19. 

The memoir traces her path from her father’s death to medical examiner to author. Since retiring from her career as Onondaga County’s medical examiner, she has intertwined her fascination with death and her love for writing. She hopes her book will help others come to an understanding of death. 

“I’ve never stopped writing. Prior to my retirement and prior to now my book, it was never formal.” Jumbelic said. “It was just a necessary part of my life, just like reading.” 

The title of Jumbelic’s book comes from the Latin phrase: Hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae. That phrase literally translates to here where death delights to help the living. 

The phrase can often be seen in pathology rooms and places where medical examiner’s work with bodies. The phrase’s meaning is that information about the dead can help the living. 

“So if we look at death and we analyze it and try to define those moments and what happens … we’re trying to take those lessons and then apply it to the living,” she said.

After her career as a medical examiner, Jumbelic transitioned from writing scholarly articles and for scientific publications to writing nonfiction stories. She learned how to write vulnerable and personal stories. 

She joined local book clubs and writing workshop classes at Syracuse’s Downtown Writer’s Center. Jumbelic wrote and submitted her literary works to her peers to review, slowly honing her skills as a creative writer. 

After placing in the top 10 in an AARP Huffington Post memoir contest, Jumbelic continued to submit her work to other national outlets. Some of her writings were rejected and others were accepted. 

Her peers’ feedback encouraged Jumbelic to continue sharing her voice and life experiences. 

“I think when I finally owned that is when my voice got very strong and I was able to connect the dots between the disparate stories and who I am,” Jumbelic said.  

Death is inextricable from who Jumbelic is. She begins her chronological story about her writing career with her at 13 years old. Her father had recently died and she used a journal she’d been gifted to cope with his death. 

“It shocked me and it was a big loss for me and impacted me,” Jumbelic said. “ I don’t think I understood the great impact of that until much later in my life.”

Death demands people pause and listen, Jumbelic said.  The stories she presents and emotions she expresses in her memoir reflect that. 

During her career as a former forensic pathologist, Jumbelic helped others cope with death and reframe their thoughts about it. Writing this memoir – a four year project – helped Jumbelic crystalize lessons she learned during her career about death, she said. 

Those lessons include the acceptance of the inevitability of death, that witnessing death honors the deceased person’s life, and it’s important to live life to the fullest. 

“It’s all we have, we have it right now, right here,” Jumbelic said. 

To follow up on details about Jumbelic’s upcoming book tour dates and to purchase her book visit her website. 

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