Published Articles
2019 - May - The Daily News - Huntingdon
Death Cafés
Each spring I am surprised by the vivid colors that appear in the plants and trees. You would think that having experienced many Pennsylvania springs in my lifetime, I would be used to...
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
2019 - April - Gazette - Stories of Loss
Stories of Loss
I sat in a circle of nearly twenty women. Our facilitator looked at one of the women and asked, “What are you most present to?” That woman began to share a story about herself whic...
Thursday, April 25, 2019
2019 - March - Gazette - Death Café
Death Café
In November 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote these words, “…but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” These two certainties will be spotlighted on April 15, 2019, wit...
Friday, March 29, 2019
2019 - March - CDT - Helping Hands - Thankful Thoughtful Thursdays
Thankful Thoughtful Thursdays
In the book, The Moon in the Well: Wisdom Tales to Transform Your Life, Family, and Community, Erica Helm Meade shared a tale from Madagascar. In this story, God allo...
Thursday, March 7, 2019
2019 - March - CDT - Active Life - Find the Path by Walking It
Find the Path by Walking It
A 96-year-old woman attended several of our grief education and support programs. At one such gathering she told us she believed it helps to share troubles with o...
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
2019 - February - Gazette - Thankful Thoughtful Thursdays
Thankful Thoughtful Thursdays
I have the incredible honor of companioning people before and after a loved one dies. One thing I’ve learned in this process is that fulfilling the dying person’s wis...
Thursday, February 28, 2019
2019 - January - Gazette - Love Helps Us Heal
Love Helps Us Heal
The room was full of friends and family who came to honor a woman’s life. First, the guests offered their condolences in the receiving line. Next, as the celebrant, I shared pie...
Thursday, January 31, 2019
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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