4 Austin moms, 4 dead husbands, 4 different approaches to grief. Life after death can seem impossible, overwhelming, and just sad. We get it. Only people who have experienced this kind of loss can truly understand. We share our experiences, show you what grief looks like a year from now, or 2 or 6...even 10 for not only you but your family.
Every Widow Thing podcast will remind you that you are stronger than you think and that this grief does get less deep, less dark, and less often. Come join our widows' circle where trauma meets humor and we can encourage you to not only survive but thrive!
Meet the Widows
Holly
Holly was born and raised in Plano, Texas. She attended Texas Tech University, where she met her husband, Toby, in design school. After graduating, she moved to San Francisco to pursue her career in graphic design … and admittedly, to pursue her future husband who had already moved there. They were married and moved to Marin County. After working in the design industry for 15 years, they decided to move back to Texas to raise their two boys and be closer to family.
In 2017, their lives changed forever. After 28 years together, Toby was driving their youngest son and three friends home from baseball practice when they were hit head-on by a drunk driver. Toby died on impact.
As a single parent, Holly has focused on raising her boys and navigating life’s challenges. Her oldest son, Gabe, attends Texas Christian University where he is studying Film. Her youngest, Zach, is in high school where he plays baseball and has a focus on fishing. Travel, exercise, therapy, and spending time with her boys are important parts of her evolving healing process.
Holly is also utilizing her creativity with productive business endeavors such as home organizing, interior design projects and managing her rental property, The Poppy @thepoppyroundtop, in Round Top, Texas. The Poppy is a late 1800s farmhouse Holly renovated and decorated with her sister and mother.
Whitney
Whitney is a native Texan and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where she met her husband, Hunter, at the age of 19 during a rowdy game of “Never Have I Ever.”
After graduation, they got married and Hunter began his career adventure that took them to places in Kansas, Connecticut, London and eventually Los Angeles, California. During this time Whitney was a drama teacher and also began her 20 plus years in the entertainment business as an actress, stand up comedienne and radio personality. They spent 11 years in LA raising their three children and creating amazing memories with a supportive village of friends.
Life was good, but when Hunter was given an opportunity to work in Texas, the pull of their home state was too great to resist. In the summer of 2017, when the kids were 11, 12, and 14, the family relocated from Los Angeles to Austin excited about the future. Three months later, Hunter died unexpectedly due to sleep apnea. He was 46 years old.
Whitney decided early on to take this trauma and use it to see life for what it is. A blessing. She continues to use humor, her strong faith in God and occasional therapeutic profanity to get her through the hard days. All three of Hunter and Whitney’s children are doing well. Their daughter Sydney is studying Psychology at Texas State University, Their oldest son, Hayden is attending The University of Oklahoma and their youngest son, Campbell is working on his college applications!
Keira
Keira is from the Washington, DC area where she met and fell in love with her husband Frank. They moved to New York City in 1999 where they both worked in publishing and married. After 9/11 Frank’s career moved the couple to Toronto, then back to New York, where they settled in the suburbs to raise a family. In 2010 they arrived in Austin with their three children Aislin, Thomas, and Carys. After four great years of making new friends and learning the art of being Texans, tragedy struck. Early in the morning, while driving on a Texas highway to collect the older kids from summer camp, a drunk driver hit the family head on and Frank was killed instantly.
Keira and Carys both suffered severe injuries. For months they fought back from surgeries and through physical therapy. Keira’s main focus was always to ensure she could care for her children and still give them a full and joyful life. With the love and continued support of family and friends, Keira and her children are thriving nine years later. Today she owns a successful apparel business and an Airbnb in East Hampton, NY. Her oldest daughter Aislin is a business major at the University of Texas, while Thomas is entering the University of Virginia, this fall. Carys, the resilient, sweet, and hilarious baby of the family, is going into 8th grade and will continue to keep her mom company while they wrangle their shaggy rescue pup Gramercy and wild mini-Aussie Coast.
Lacey
Lacey was raised in the Buckle of the Bible Belt, M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. She spent most of her career in the television and film industry in Los Angeles working for such notables as Norman Lear and Billy Crystal. After moving to Austin, Texas, in 2000, Lacey met her husband, Oliver, on the elevator at work. Oliver was nine years younger, a native of Hamburg, Germany, and Lacey’s friends jokingly referred to her as the “real-life Mrs. Robinson.”
Lacey and Oliver married eight months later. Their son, Ryder, was born in 2005. When Ryder was just six years old, Oliver died suddenly at age 38 of Group A Strep Toxic Shock. Nearly 12 years later – after a lot of therapy and healing – Lacey and Ryder live by this motto: “Our journey of new beginnings will always honor and rejoice the past.”
Today, Ryder is thriving as an incoming college freshman at Northeastern University in Boston majoring in computer science. Lacey is a freelance story editor, and she’s working on developing creative writing projects using material inspired by this chapter in her life.