Nancy Manahan & Becky Bohan
Dr. Nancy Manahan, Ph.D., is a community college English teacher, now retired. Becky Bohan, M.A., is the retired Vice-President of Knowledge Design and Delivery, a training consulting company. Nancy and Becky both received undergraduate degrees in English from the University of Minnesota. They have published four previous books. Living Consciously, Dying Gracefully: A Journey with Cancer and Beyond is the unforgettable, inspiring story of the authors’ sister-in-law, a professor of nursing diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at 55. It reveals Diane’s moving home death, her unusual family-directed green funeral, and astonishing after-death communications. The book has won seven regional and national awards, including the prestigious Eric Hoffer Award and the 2008 Midwest Book Award. The authors give presentations to hospices, churches, colleges, and holistic medicine groups. They make their home in Minneapolis. For more information, visit nanbec.com.
Articles:
Grief Film Review: ‘Departures’
We recommend “Departures,” the 2009 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, currently in theaters. “Departures” is a moving, inspiring glimpse into Japan’s cultural heritage of caring for a body after death. When a young cellist loses his orchestra job, he and his wife move back to his hometown. He answers a classified ad for a company called “Departures,” thinking it’s a travel agency. He discovers, instead, that the job involves washing and casketing bodies. Daigo overcomes his initial horror and comes to love the reverential ceremonies, which are transformational for the families involved . . . and eventually for him […]
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Sacred Moments With the Body After the Death
By Nancy Manahan, Ph.D., and Becky Bohan. M.A. — In their last Open to Hope posting, “Washing Diane’s Body: Caring at the Crossroad,” Nancy described the extraordinary ritual of washing Diane’s body. In this installment, Nancy’s spouse Becky recounts the four-hour home vigil, which gave family members and friends a chance to be with Diane’s body, to grieve, and to support each other in a sacred ritual. While Nancy and others were washing Diane’s body, I heated up the Indian curry and rice I had brought from home. I sat at the kitchen table, eating with Bill and Diane’s four […]
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Washing Diane’s Body: Caring at the Crossing
By Nancy Manahan, Ph.D., and Becky Bohan. M.A. — In our last Open to Hope posting, the extraordinary final moments of Diane’s death in Nancy’s arms were described. Here, Nancy recounts what happened immediately after Diane died, most importantly, the washing of Diane’s body. This ancient ritual is being reclaimed by many families as an opportunity to honor their loved ones, to grieve, and to perform a final sacred service for them. Diane’s closest friends, Bev and Laura, arrived at the house moments after she died. I was still holding her when they entered the bedroom. They knelt beside the […]
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