Wendy’s voice is full of love and laughter, honest and deep, daring to go to places many others avoid. Her voice shares the beauty in nature, people and life in all its imperfection and purity. Her intelligence, wisdom and kindness are revealed with her words, a joy to those blessed to read or hear them. Dr Georgina Gibson
Image: Doris Zagdanski and Wendy Haynes
Community Conversations about Living and Dying
A proud grandma post! My lovely grandsons, Leo and Reuben, together with their dad, Joe, have formed a band: Jacana (the Band). They are mad birdies as well as guitarists, so they chose their name after the beautiful Jacana bird. At just 9 and 12, Leo and Reuben are enthusiastic…
Read BlogMy celebrant colleague, Bill Stubbs, shared this reading from a memorial service he officiated at last week. The excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh, where he shares the story of his own mother’s death, was read by the daughter of the deceased. “The same thing happens when we lose any of…
Read BlogRemembering Sue Siwinski I had met with Sue at the hospital to plan her farewell ceremonies. She wanted her family to have a small, private service at the crematorium and then later, a public ceremony where her colleagues from Bishop Druitt College and the wider community could gather to remember…
Read BlogOne of the things I have come to value most in creating funeral ceremonies is the importance of keeping them simple. As celebrants, we can sometimes feel that we need to fill the ceremony with our own words — to tell the person’s whole life story, explain who they were,…
Read BlogElsie Morrison lived a remarkable 98 years. Even though an elder may be expected to die, and even when a death comes at the end of a long and well-lived life, it can still come as a shock to family and close friends. We can know that someone is old,…
Read BlogWords of Remembrance for Gordon Weick “Gordon loved his family and friends. He was a smart man, a successful man, and a man whose generosity and kindness will be remembered by many. He loved the simple pleasures of life, especially being outdoors on the farm, spending time with the cattle,…
Read BlogSometimes, when preparing a funeral, a small detail opens up the whole ceremony. For Narelle Hoy, it was home. Narelle was a schoolteacher, a mother of four boys and a woman who was deeply involved in and loved by her community. There were many possible ways to begin telling the…
Read BlogSome funerals are definitely harder than others to prepare for. Mitch’s death was sudden and unexpected. He was a young father of two beautiful little boys, and he died in an accident. The shock, disbelief, and the tragedy rippled not only through his beloved family but throughout the entire community….
Read BlogTrigger warning: this is a personal story of death, shared with some detail. Please read with care. Dad died here at his home on Easter Sunday. It was a good death in that he wasn’t afraid of dying, and he was so ready to leave his tired 90 year old…
Read BlogAs part of our final session, Wisdom and Wonder, from the program, Finding Peace in Aging, that Jeff Joslin and myself hosted online, I invited participants to contribute an offering towards a closing blessing. Here it is… the wisdom and the wonder. May you have deep and continued connection in…
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