Loss of a Family Member

Honor and duty can be strong but loss is painful. Read and listen to stories of others who understand.

Articles

  • Memorial Day After Loss: How to Honor Your Loved One Without Being Overwhelmed

    Posted on May 25, 2026 - by Heidi Horsley

    Memorial Day is meant to be a day of remembrance, but for those who are actively grieving, the holiday can feel like an emotional ambush. Here’s how to cope with grief on Memorial Day, honor the loved one you lost, and protect your own heart on a day designed for remembering.

    Read More

  • Who Is Your Hero?  How Has Your Hero Influenced Your Life?

    Posted on May 12, 2026 - by Nan Zastrow

    “ I believe that our heroes in life change over time based on our values and maturity. We don’t cling to those who impressed us with their status. Instead, we align our vision with those who are authentic, reliable, and role models. However,  there may also be the unlikely, unclaimed hero who changes our life and  lives in our heart forever.” (Nan Zastrow)  A  year ago, in a support group meeting,  I shared the story of how the ®Wings organization began…in Memory after the death of our son, Chad. After the group, a man who was present came forward and […]

    Read More

  • Bereaved Military Family Members and Veterans Invited to Participate in Grief Study

    Posted on April 7, 2019 - by admin

    Guest Column by Stephen J. Cozza, M.D Memorial Day is coming and our nation will pause to honor the service and sacrifice of our fallen military service members. Deaths in the decade after September 11, 2001 largely resulted from sudden and violent causes, including combat, accidents, and suicide. Even during peacetime, deaths in the military can often come unexpectedly and suddenly, taking young people in the prime of their lives. Those who grieve such losses shoulder a heavy burden. While most people can and do integrate loss into their lives and find joy again, some continue to suffer for years […]

    Read More

  • Zaneta Gileno: TAPS Helps After Military Deaths

    Posted on October 6, 2018 - by Jessica Tyner Mehta

    Zaneta Gileno works for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), a non-profit that supports people who lost loved ones in the military. As the Director of Community-Based care, Gileno helps connect people to individualized grief counseling. She spoke with Dr. Heidi Horsley during the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference about her work and personal experience with TAPS. Peer support is what Gileno believes most helps children who lose a parent in the military, as Gileno lost her own father at a young age. Dr. Horsley also utilizes the services of TAPS, and knows first-hand just how […]

    Read More

  • Carole Hilton: TAPS for Widows

    Posted on October 3, 2018 - by Heidi Horsley

    The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) was a buoy for Carole Hilton, who discovered the program just a few days after her husband died. He was an active member in the Navy, and when the officer arrived at Hilton’s doorstep to deliver the news, within the paperwork was a TAPS brochure. Hilton talked with the Open to Hope Executive Director, Dr. Heidi Horsley, during the 2015 Association for Death Education and Counseling conference about what TAPS means to her. Nobody plans on becoming a young widow or ever having that title bestowed upon them. However, Hilton says that simply […]

    Read More

  • Why Some Families are Resilient

    Posted on December 20, 2017 - by Gloria Horsley

    Kathleen Gilbert is based at Indiana University and specializes in grief counseling with military members and their families—however, she also works to help families build resiliency during deployment (without any deaths occurring). Gilbert spoke to Dr. Gloria Horsley during the 2015 Association on Death Education and Counseling conference about what she’s working on and how grief in military families is a niche. Members of the Indiana National Guard were Gilbert’s first clients, and she operated a camp to help with healing, processing and grieving. In all cases (so far), it has been fathers who were deployed. For the most part […]

    Read More
  • 911 Memorial

    September 11th – 16 Years of Grief

    Posted on September 11, 2017 - by Heidi Horsley

    Sixteen years ago, our resilience as a country was tested when nearly 3,000 people were killed in the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.  We have come a long way since then, and I have watched as NYC has rebuilt, and bereaved families have once again found hope. I was honored to spend ten years with 9/11 firefighter families, taking the grief journey with them.  Their grief came in waves, often knocking them down when they least expected it.  But these families kept going, and they leaned on, and supported other 9/11 families, much as TAPS families do.  It’s been 16 years, […]

    Read More

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Military

    Posted on May 31, 2016 - by Heidi Horsley

    Dr. Heidi Horsley talks about military post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with Dr. Ed Tick, an expert in the field. He’s the author of “War and the Soul” as well as four other books. He’s the director of Soldier’s Heart and has worked with military members and their families for several years. There’s a difference between military PTSD and “regular” PTSD. Trauma from military PTSD is impacted by traumatic accidents, illnesses, and deaths, but also involves being an agent of death and destruction. Veterans are asking for help feeling forced to be perpetrators. Training military members means training killers, and […]

    Read More

  • Stephanie Groepper: Spouse Loss

    Posted on February 29, 2016 - by Heidi Horsley

    Losing a spouse is unexpected, since you see yourself growing old with this person. Dr. Heidi Horsley talks to Stephanie Groepper, a military widow. She’s a psychology student and the founder of Washington Warrior Widows, a non-profit for widows and widowers in Washington State. Groepper’s daughter is seven years old, and was only four months old when her partner died. In the military, it’s the loss of both a spouse and a lifestyle. As part of the military, it can be a sudden loss of your community. You’re given one year to move off base if you live in military […]

    Read More

  • Diana Wright: TAPS Youth Programs

    Posted on February 13, 2016 - by Heidi Horsley

    The recent National Alliance for Grieving Children conference brought together Dr. Heidi Horsley and Diana Wright of TAPS Youth Programs. She’s been a volunteer for five years, and came on staff as a programs coordinator. She first learned about TAPS in 2007, and learned how incredible the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors is for bereaved military members and their families. She started volunteering and found a path of healing after her son died in the military. It took six months after his death before she started actively looking for grief support. Both of Wright’s children have died, and this has […]

    Read More
  • Open to hope

    Darcey Fairchild: Nature-Based Grief Programs for Teens

    Posted on November 20, 2015 - by Heidi Horsley

    At the conference for the National Alliance for Grieving Children, Dr. Heidi Horsley talked with Darcey Fairchild who works with TAPS, an organization which serves military families. She began her work just over two years ago in Montana. It was a means of incorporating her love for nature-based programming and her background in social work. Nature based programming can be very helpful for children in grief. As a native Montanan, Fairchild found peace in the natural world and uses it as a way to regulate her emotions. There’s something incredible about spending the day in front of a mountain or […]

    Read More
  • Open to hope

    Traumatic Loss in the Military

    Posted on October 7, 2015 - by Bonnie Carroll

    Military loss is a unique kind of loss, but many others have been in your shoes. Bonnie Carroll shares her experience with Dr. Gloria Horsley. Carroll is the founder of TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors in the military). According to her, military loss is a very different experience. There are different words in our culture to talk about these kinds of losses. Someone “gave the ultimate sacrifice” and there’s even a national day of mourning. There are national cemeteries just for those who died in the military. You can find these throughout the country. These are all ways we […]

    Read More
  • Open to hope

    Summer Memories of my Father

    Posted on August 3, 2015 - by Michael Nunley

    Summer always comes with the memory of my father, Col. Billy F. Nunley’s funeral.  The funeral service was on July 2nd and that made the fireworks and military tributes of  July 4th a painful echo of the ceremony performed by the Air Force Honor Guard. The sky was a clear blue, the kind of day that sometimes prompted my father to say, “Good day to fly.”  The slow drive up to the gravesite took us past flags and flowers, ribbons and wreathes, all in red, white, and blue.  The young Air Force men and women carried out their duty flawlessly. […]

    Read More
  • Open to hope

    Don Lipstein: Losing a Soldier Son to Suicide

    Posted on July 27, 2015 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

    In this episode of The Open to Hope Radio show, Drs. Gloria and Heidi Horsley interview Don Lipstein, who is a Peer Mentor Support and Training Coordinator for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors of Military Loss (TAPS). Lipstein began working with TAPS in the summer of 2012, shortly after the suicide death of his son, Joshua. Today, he’s key in providing support and hope for other military family members who are in the early stages of their grief. Lipstein says TAPS aided him in pinpointing hope during the darkest of days. Lipstein notes that Joshua served two terms in […]

    Read More
  • Open to hope

    Helping Military Kids with Traumatic Death

    Posted on March 28, 2014 - by Linda Goldman

    Ordinary fears are a normal part of a child’s developmental growth, and children create internal and external mechanisms to cope with these fears. But a child’s ordinary fears can be transformed into very real survival fears in the face of severe trauma. After children experience the death of a parent, they often feel alone and different. Frightened because their once comfortable world now seems unpredictable and unsafe, they may react in ways that we as adults can truly not judge, understand, or anticipate. The impact of a dad’s or mom’s death in the military can be so traumatically disturbing that […]

    Read More

Open to Hope Radio

Open to Hope TV

  • Episode 257: Beyond the Shadows: Giving Voice to Sibling Grief

    Posted on December 13, 2025 - by admin

    The death of a sibling can be extremely difficult, yet society often minimizes this loss. Join host Dr. Heidi Horsley, with her guests Kim Burditt Bartlett and Zaneta Gileno to talk about sibling loss. Kim Burditt Bartlett is the Co-Founder of Sibling Strong Retreats. In 2010, Kim’s younger brother, Jon, died by suicide, forever changing her life. Kim serves as Senior Manager of Family Engagement for the Black Box Project at Stop Soldier Suicide, a groundbreaking initiative using digital data to better understand and prevent suicide. She previously worked at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), where she’s created […]

    Watch

  • Episode 256: After the Last Goodbye: Navigating Life After Losing a Parent

    Posted on December 12, 2025 - by admin

    What does grief look like when the person who raised you is gone? Join host Dr. Heidi Horsley and her guests Zaneta Gileno and Kim Burditt Bartlett as they talk about grieving the death of a parent. When Zaneta Gileno was just 10 yrs. old her Dad died of a heart attack, and in 2023, her Mom died of lung issues. Zaneta has a private practice called Hope Rising Psychotherapy & Wellness. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia University, and currently serves as Senior Mental Health Advisor and Board Member for Repatriate Our Patriots. In addition, she previously worked […]

    Watch
  • Open to hope

    Episode 152: Needs of People Coping with Mass Violence, Trauma and Military Loss

    Posted on December 10, 2018 - by admin

    On This show Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley interview Sallie Lynch Development Consultant for Tuesday’s Children, which works with 9/11 families, military families and communities impacted by traumatic loss, and Amy Tucci CEO of Hospice Foundation of America and the executive director of the TAPS Institute for Hope and Healing® regarding providing grief resources for survivors of military loss, regardless of the manner of death, and continuing education about loss for professionals who care for the loved ones of America’s fallen heroes.

    Watch
  • Open to hope

    Episode 128: Coping with the High Profile Death of a Child

    Posted on April 10, 2018 - by admin

    On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley will interview Jamie Bright and Delain Johnson, about coping with the high profile death of a child, and how they coped. Danielle was murdered by her boyfriend.  Delain is Vice President of Bereaved Parents USA, and a licensed counselor, specializing in grief and loss. Her son, Christopher, an army captain, was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom. A video clip is show of Bereaved Parents USA.

    Watch
  • Open to hope

    Episode 103: TAPS-Supporting Military Families

    Posted on May 11, 2017 - by admin

    On this show Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley interview Zaneta M. Gileno, LMSW, CT Director, Community Based Care and Professional Education and Emily Munoz, surviving spouse of Gil and director of the TAPs Inner Warrior Health and Wellness program regarding programs for those who have lost a loved one in the military.

    Watch
  • Open to hope

    Episode 84: Military Loss with Jeanne Harris Weaver and Donn Weaver

    Posted on September 25, 2016 - by admin

    On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley interviewed artist Jeanne Harris Weaver and her husband, Donn Weaver, a retired Foreign Service Diplomat.  Their son, Todd, an Army Ranger, was killed while on deployment in Afghanistan.  In his memory, Jeanne created twenty-one pictures in the year following Todd’s death.  A tribute clip is shown honoring Bonnie Carroll, founder of TAPS, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

    Watch
  • Open to hope

    Episode 60: Traumatic Sibling Loss: Finding Hope Again

    Posted on December 14, 2015 - by admin

    On this show Dr. Gloria Horsley and co-host Alan Pedersen, Executive Director of The Compassionate Friends, interview two guests regarding coping with grief after a traumatic sibling loss. The first guest is Megan MacFarland, sister of Staff Sgt.Marc Small, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. The second guest is Zander Sprague, whose sister was murdered in 1996. Zander is the author of Making Lemonade: Choosing a Positive Pathway After Losing a Sibling. Inspired by their loses both Megan and Zander have gone on to develop careers helping others. Zander by getting a degree in counseling and Megan in occupational […]

    Watch
  • Open to hope

    Episode 43: Military Related Suicide

    Posted on May 7, 2015 - by admin

    On this show Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley discuss with Janet Burroway, New York Times best selling author, her book “Losing Tim” a memoir about the death of her oldest son, Tim, a U.S. soldier and contractor who served in Iraq and died by suicide in 2004 at age 40. They then show a film clip produced by The Stop Soldier Suicide Foundation and interview CEO Brian Kinsella.

    Watch

Foundation

Get Involved

Resources

Copyright © 2026 Open to Hope