Light for blog post by Marjorie Brimley DC widow writer
Holidays

To Read on Memorial Day

Every year around this time, there’s a pause to remember those we’ve lost in service to our country. I’m never quite sure what to do about this day, as I feel such a connection to any widow, but I also know that military widows have other layers to their loss that I don’t know.

Today’s post are two short articles that have stuck with me. Both pieces are about widows who lost their husbands while they were serving in the US military.

Shari Tolbert was a young mother and military spouse whose life was upended when her husband, Lt. Cmdr. Otis Vincent Tolbert was killed at the Pentagon on 9/11. This piece, from the Washington Post, is a moving account of her life ten years later. It shows how so many things can change and yet the grief can still remain.

Artis Henderson was married only four months when she lost her husband in Iraq. Her book, Unremarried Widow, is simply beautiful (and I realize that’s a weird thing to say about a widow book, but it’s true.) This piece, from Modern Loss, is an excerpt.

On this Memorial Day, we honor those we have lost.