Winter Texan Honored with Memorial Portrait on Donate Life Float in 2013 Rose Parade

Equities

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 28 -- University of Texas System Health Science Center at San Antonio issued the following news release:

In honor of tissue donor and winter Texan Darlene Uecker, Allograft Resources, which is a division of the School of Medicine of the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, is hosting an event in Edinburg on Wednesday, Dec. 5, to finalize the decorating of a memorial floragraph portrait. The floragraph will travel with her family to Pasadena, Calif., to be displayed on the Donate Life Rose Parade Float "Journeys of the Heart" on Jan. 1, 2013.

At the 1 to 2:30 p.m. ceremony, Don Uecker, Darlene's husband, will put the finishing touches on the memorial floragraph, which is a portrait adorned with grains, flowers, seeds, spices and other organic materials. Darlene's floragraph will be one of 72 floral portraits on the Donate Life float. The float honors the lives of organ and tissue donors and the decision they made to give the gift of life by donating their organs, tissues or corneas.

In 2011, the Ueckers, who are residents of Wisconsin, were spending the winter in Alamo, Texas. Darlene Uecker, 74, suffered a cerebral aneurysm and died at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg.

For 24 years, Darlene Uecker worked on the manufacturing of implants in Medtronic's health division. As the recipient of three pacemakers, she learned how the devices worked and knew that implantable devices could improve health and save lives. That knowledge led to her decision to register as a donor.

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