Our Story

By the time my husband, Ray, whom Raydiant Guidance is named for, died of brain cancer, I would say I was functioning at 60%.

Five years prior, my stepdad died unexpectedly. My biological dad had already died several years earlier, leaving me both grateful for the opportunity, but ultimately burned out and traumatized, to care for my mom who was on dialysis and dealing with all the health complications associated.

Just a few months after his passing, my brother killed himself. At this point I literally asked the funeral home if they offered a punch card since we were having two funerals in a matter of months (yes, gallows humor). Then Covid began a couple of months later.

So that’s when I put on my big girl pants and took care of my stepdad’s affairs, my brother’s affairs, my mother’s care and emotional wellbeing through all the grief she was enduring while trying to hang on to her own life, and the chaos and struggle of a pandemic.

Then Ray was diagnosed with brain cancer. I took care of my mom and my husband, the two most amazing people in my life, for a year together until my mom ultimately died from a kidney-disease related heart attack.

Then our beloved special needs cat died (are you getting the picture yet?) just three months before Ray.

I couldn’t make this up. I couldn’t see the future. This doesn’t even take into account my own health concerns.

Those experiences shaped not only how I understand grief, but also how I understand the practical weight that comes with it. With more than 20 years of social work experience, completion of the PALS After Loss Professional Training Program, and The Dougy Center’s Becoming Grief-Informed: Foundations of Grief Education course, I created Raydiant Guidance to offer the kind of steady, compassionate support I so often wished I had myself.

My goal is to help widows and surviving partners organize what needs to be done, feel less alone in the process, and move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and support.