Loss of a Family Member

After Loss of a parent

Stories of others who have lost parents will inspire and support you. Read, listen and watch. Hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.

Open to Hope Radio

Articles

  • How to Survive a Memorial Service by Eating All the Cookies

    Posted on July 12, 2022 - by Sherry Walling

    Dad Helped Plan His Memorial Service We had a memorial service for my dad. He helped plan the shindig. He picked the songs for the video slideshow, asked me to speak, and requested that his older sister, Kathy, co-lead the service. Dad requested that his grandsons play music. And he did not want a viewing. He wanted to be cremated. He had a hand in the whole thing. It was one of the strange gifts of cancer, the time to talk about the ending. Honestly, I’m sad that he wasn’t able to attend. I think he would have had a […]

    Read More

  • Getting Through my First Father’s Day Without Dad

    Posted on June 13, 2022 - by Brooke Carlock

    ‘You No Longer Have a Dad’ I never did much for my dad on Father’s Day.  We didn’t have any particular traditions to mark the occasion.  It was the same for birthdays and anniversaries – both his and mine.  Sometimes we sent cards and phoned to say, “I love you.” Other times we went out to dinner.   No fuss.  We were all busy. This year is different, though.  My dad passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly, from a heart attack while driving home from work.  This is my first Father’s Day without Dad. I’m not going to lie – it’s rough.  […]

    Read More

  • Memory of a Death

    Posted on May 31, 2022 - by Mary-Frances O'Connor

    Memory of a Death When a loved one has died, we have a memory of learning that they died. This memory of a death might be of the phone call informing you that your brother died. It’s etched in your mind with lots of detail—where you were in the dining room, what you were cooking, how hot it was in the room, the smell of onions. These are what we call episodic memories; they are detailed memories of a specific death. A Father is Dying Perhaps your memory of a death occurred because you were there when it happened. When […]

    Read More

  • How My Mother’s Loss Changed Me

    Posted on May 6, 2022 - by Lori Koidahl

    My Mother’s Loss Changed Me My metamorphosis commenced when I suffered the intense loss of my mom. Her death unraveled all my patterns, disrupted my life, and revealed how much I had taken for granted. It affirmed what was most precious to me. A part of me died and then a rebirth occurred. My thoughts, perceptions, and how I chose to live my life with the time I had left changed. It opened me up to myself and how I truly wanted to live. A life with purpose and meaning. Focused on connections. Connections with people, nature, animals, myself and […]

    Read More

  • Telling the Children that Mom is Going to Die

    Posted on April 29, 2022 - by Stedman Stevens

    Telling the Children My wife was dying, and telling the children was the next step. My wife and I struck out on our journey to prepare, protect, and parent our three sweet teenage daughters. There is no right or wrong way to convey this message. But there may be better or worse ways to help your children transition through one of the most difficult experiences of their young lives. Oddly, we did not realize the enormity of the task we were undertaking at the time, probably due to stress, fatigue, and emotional exhaustion. But we both felt in telling the […]

    Read More

  • Dear Motherless Daughter: As Mother’s Day Approaches

    Posted on April 14, 2022 - by Mershon Niesner

    Dear Motherless Daughter, You’re probably not looking forward to Mother’s Day this year—or any year. I’ve been motherless since I was eight and I still don’t look forward to Mother’s Day. Even when my children were young and celebrated me with handmade cards and burnt toast, I still felt sad that I wasn’t able to personally celebrate with my mom. When I was a kid, my dad and I planted window boxes for my mother on Mother’s Day. The colorful boxes sat under the two windows at the front of our modest, post-war bungalow in Nebraska. Ever since, flowers have […]

    Read More

  • Don’t Rush Grief

    Posted on April 12, 2022 - by Karla Noland

    Grief didn’t strike me the moment my mother died. Instead, my grief began when I realized my mother was dying, which was on her 78th birthday. Shock, disbelief, and sadness weighed on me from that moment on because I knew the inevitable would happen. When my mother passed away, I acknowledged that she was no longer in pain and had gone to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but I did not give myself space to grieve. I distracted myself from the pain by going back to work in an attempt to return to some semblance of normalcy. […]

    Read More

  • As My Mother Lay Dying

    Posted on April 11, 2022 - by Karla Noland

    Not Much Time Left A week before Thanksgiving, my aunt called me and said my mother didn’t have much time left, and the nurse on call at the hospice facility said I should come right away. I booked a flight to Houston the next day for my husband, our youngest son, and myself. We stayed at my mother’s house as we traveled back and forth to the hospice facility to sit at her bedside. By this time, cancer had ravaged my mother’s body. She no longer had any body fat and was down to skin and bones. The doctor placed her […]

    Read More

  • Andrew Garfield: ‘I Hope This Grief Stays With Me’

    Posted on December 12, 2021 - by Becky Aud-Jennison

    I Hope This Grief Stays With Me “I hope this grief stays with me.” These beautiful words of Andrew Garfield, speaking to Stephen Colbert (starting at 4:20), have gone viral this past month. It’s as if we are a society hungry for these intimate glimpses into another’s experience. In fact, I believe we are a society starving for permission to speak of our own great grieving. I describe my transformation after the deaths of my soul connect brother and mother as dismantling me and putting me back together differently. In this conversation, we bear witness to the birth of Andrew’s […]

    Read More
  • Open to hope

    Advice for Those Who Have Lost a Parent

    Posted on August 8, 2021 - by Harry Barry

    It is important to recognize that each one us loses a “different” parent. This explains the variety of grief reactions in a family. Thus, it’s difficult to give universal advice for those who have lost a parent. Each child and adult will have a different relationship with their mother and father. This relationship, in turn, will depend on the individual personality of both parents and child, their place in the family, whether they are closer to one or other parent, and especially what memories have been built up about that parent. Love and Closeness are Not the Same It is […]

    Read More
  • Open to hope

    Suicide Sucks

    Posted on July 9, 2021 - by Jenny Landon

    Funeral After a Suicide April 29, 2016— Minneapolis, MN After what had been a week of gray, rainy, cold days, it felt amazing to feel the sunshine again. It should have been a day to rejoice, to be outside listening to the children play on the nearby playground; and yet I found myself sitting in a chapel staring down at a picture of what appeared to be a happy man. Suicide sucks. I looked at his picture and felt the pain his family must be feeling as we prepared to say our final goodbyes to him. He was a son, […]

    Read More

Open to Hope TV

  • Episode 185: Surviving Terrorism, Mass Violence, and Traumatic Loss

    Posted on September 10, 2021 - by admin

    Suffered a traumatic loss? Join Dr. Heidi Horsley and her guests Maureen Basnicki, Heather Dearman and Sallie Lynch founding members of the Survivors of Tragedy Outreach Program (STOP) an initiative created by Tuesday’s Children. Get a message of hope and learn how peer connections and support can be key components to your recovery.

    Watch

  • Episode 184: Parent Loss and Childhood Trauma

    Posted on September 7, 2021 - by admin

    You are stronger than you think you are!  Join Dr. Heidi Horsley and her guests to explore childhood trauma, Inner strength, and the strength of community.  Guests include Marie Clyne and Robert Pycior, who lost a mother and father in the 9/ll terrorist attacks and Kathy Murphy, Program Director of Tuesday’s Children.

    Watch

  • Episode 183: Men and Grief: Brotherhood and Connection

    Posted on September 6, 2021 - by admin

    Join Dr. Heidi Horsley in an interview with Dave Turner New York City firefighter who lost 15 of his FDNY brothers’ in the 9/11 attacks and Carrie Pike author of Heroes of 9/11: A brotherhood and connections that never end after loss for a look into one’s man journey toward hope and healing.

    Watch

  • Episode 181: Coping with the Death of Friends, Family and Co-workers: Finding Hope after 9/11

    Posted on September 5, 2021 - by admin

      We have much to learn today from those whose family members died in the World Trade Center. Tune in for messages of hope and resilience. Hear Dr. Heidi Horsley interview friends and family members on this the 20th anniversary.

    Watch

Foundation

Get Involved

Resources

Copyright © 2026 Open to Hope