It was a Monday, June 8, 2020, when my wife, Hilary, and I ventured out of town for our first getaway since the Covid-19 pandemic hit.  We went to visit my uncle, Stan, who lives in Paso Robles.  He’s 90 years-young—just bought a brand-new Ford F150 pick-up—and has been living by himself since Joan, his […]

On Saturday, May 30, I watched on NASA TV the launch of the SpaceX Falcon Rocket ferrying the Crew Dragon capsule and veteran astronauts and good buddies, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, into Earth orbit to meet up with the International Space Station.  The mission was flawless.   Crew Dragon, compared to the Mercury and Apollo […]

[READER NOTE: If you want to go right to the letter-writing part, scroll down to THE SIX INGREDIENTS TO A BEAUTIFUL CONDOLENCE LETTER, and then the sample letters at the end of the Post. Casey] Let’s first hit the “Why” I don’t need to tell you the Covid 19 Pandemic is unlike anything our present […]

A couple years ago I was having dinner with a friend and business colleague of mine, Edward. We were talking about our mutual loss and grief and I mentioned the “H” word.   Edward paused and said, “Heal.   What does that even mean?” There was an uncharacteristic edge to his voice. Edward wasn’t expecting an answer, […]

I received an email a couple of months ago from a good friend of mine and a fraternity-in-loss brother: I watched a very good movie about life, love and loss.  It’s called Life Itself.  I found it on Prime Video. I do have to warn you: there are scenes that will really hit home hard […]

A few years back one of my oldest and best of pals from the Chicago burbs wrote me about one of our posts of inexplicable synchronicities. “I have no doubt that the laws of probability will continue to be irrelevant as you continue to encounter people who are desperately in need of hope and reasons […]

Braveheart, Inbreeding and Another Family Shoulder Rub with a U. S. President-The Story of John M. Cameron, Ann Mayes Rutledge and Abraham Lincoln By Vernon Case Gauntt   Introduction.    It was November 1950, Los Angeles, and the occasion a wedding shower for Joan Louise Westlund and Stanford Ellis Case.  Barbara Case Gauntt—Stan’s much beloved older […]

MARY SAWYERS SWAN COOK-The true story of a Pioneer Mother of California Introduction    From The Willits News, May 4, 1923, A Pioneer Mother of the Golden State Immigration into California, in the early 1850’s, after the first flush and fever of the gold rush had abated, may not have quite the air of romance of […]