Published Articles
2023 - January - Town & Gown - Loss, Grief, Gratitude and Humor
Loss, Grief, Gratitude and Humor
When I was invited to write a piece for the Pink Zone insert, I wondered what I could say to be helpful. I have never had breast cancer or been treated with c...
Sunday, January 1, 2023
2022 - December - Gazette - Resolutions or Intensions
Resolutions or Intentions
I’ve never been a person who is drawn to making New Year’s resolutions. Primarily because if I want to make a change in myself, I’ll make the change when I realize I want...
Thursday, December 29, 2022
2022 - December - Gazette - 2nd Annual Luminaria Memorial Display
2nd Annual Luminaria Memorial Display
Last New Year’s Eve, I picked up my parents from their local retirement community and took them for a drive in search of a very special light show. As i...
Thursday, December 15, 2022
2022 - November - Gazette - What Really Matters
What Really Matters
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” As we begin this holiday season, I invite all of us to contemplate these words from writer Annie Dillard. How do ...
Saturday, November 19, 2022
2022 - November - CNN - Dogs know just when we need them most ...
We're grateful to Madeline Holcombe with CNN for including Koch Funeral Home and Monroe, our grief therapy dog, in her story about how dogs impact grief. Thank you, Madeline! Read more here.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
2022 - November - Town & Gown - Funerals Provide Support and Help Us Heal
Funerals Provide Support and Help Us Heal
We shared stories about this veteran’s life, listened to his favorite music and said a prayer. After leaving the funeral home, we gathered at the gravesid...
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
2022 - October - Gazette - Healing Through the Holidays
Healing Through the Holidays
Growing up, my older sister had a poster of a sad clown in her bedroom with the words, “Share with me my sadness and I’ll share with you my joy.” That sentimen...
Friday, October 28, 2022
Previous Posts
2023 - November - Gazette - Dare! Silence
A lot goes on in the silence.” These are words I often share because silence is a big part of my work. For example, I ask for moments of silence when officiating at memorial and funeral services. D...
2023 - Nov - CDT - Helping Hands - Healing Through the Holidays
Healing through the Holidays
Author, poet, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” I witness this every day in my work ...
2023 - October - Gazette - Memories Become Treasures
Memories Become Treasures
I was visiting with my mom and dad a couple of weeks ago and we started talking about my dad’s parents, who I lovingly called Grandma and Grandad. My mom shared two memor...
2023 - September - Centered - Arriving Where I Started
I love the T.S. Eliot quote, from “Little Gidding,” Four Quartets:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for t...
2023 - September - Gazette - Existing Elsewhere
A few years ago I sat with a handful of adults’s in a grief gathering and listened as one mother shared her story. She told us about the moments before and after her young child’s unexpected and su...
2023 - September - Town & Gown - End-of-Life Doulas, Graveside Journaling, and Sponsoring Memorials from Afar
We hope you read the September Town & Gown article by Holly Riddle featuring End-of-Life Doula Jackie Naginey Hook.
2023 - August - Gazette - Surrender Your Soul
Surrender Your Soul
A couple of weeks ago, I stepped onto the deck of our cabin at Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, British Columbia. It was early morning and the sun had just risen from behind...
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