BACKGROUND: Originally an elementary school music teacher, I took time off to raise and homeschool my children. I founded a local homeschool support group and served in the state homeschool association. Meanwhile, I became a leader with La Leche League, helping mothers with breastfeeding and parenting, managing the support group, and training new leaders.

2010 TO PRESENT: My mother-in-law’s cancer diagnosis compelled us to move back across the country. The months spent caring for her, as my children learned about the process of death, were precious time. On the day she died, her children and grandchildren surrounded her, visiting and telling stories. A few months later, my Granny died, and we were able to be with her, also, as she took her last breaths amid a loving circle of family.
My other three grandparents and my great aunt lived out their lives over the following few years. My extended family made decisions together, took shifts for caregiving, and loved and nurtured the dying and each other. I sang and quietly played my great-aunt’s dulcimer at bedsides — even in the ICU — trying to make every moment count.
During the final months of my grandfather’s life in 2017, while interacting with the hospice team, medical staff, and caregivers, I felt called to become involved in end of life work. I joined Marin Threshold Choir and started singing for hospice patients, learning a genre of songs specifically written for encouragement, spiritual support, love, peace and comfort at end of life. I realized I had joined a unique group of heart-centered people, similar to Marin Villages, which I joined as a volunteer a few months later.
In 2020, I trained with INELDA, officially becoming an End of Life Doula. Later, I trained with Final Passages, expanding my knowledge of doula work, green burials and home funerals. I began volunteering with Sutter Hospice. And, through the myriad opportunities now online, I regularly participate in webinars and classes on doula work, music, and end of life issues such as Medical Aid in Dying.
I find myself constantly awed at the honor of helping people at the ends of their lives.

Photos shared with permission.