Anne Bonaparte
Chairman
I am inspired to bring death out of the shadows and into the daylight. A death is challenging enough without the pressure that is created when we are unprepared for it.
I’ve discovered that once people get over the initial shock of hearing the word death, they are eager to share their feelings. A conversation often begins that evolves into a deep level of intimacy and support. Death is intimate. It allows us to be intimate with life.
Leveraging my expertise as an organizational builder, we’ve brought together a team of experts who truly can change the conversation about death and dying. I see it as an extraordinary opportunity to make a difference.
Anne Bonaparte is an experienced and dynamic executive with an excellent track record of building market leading businesses. With over 25 years of experience in the technology sector, she has developed a unique blend of strategic vision, creativity, extraordinary team building skills, and excellent execution ability.
Susan Thomas
Board Member
Two weeks before I graduated from high school, my father died. He was 49 years old. Even at 17, I understood that his death changed everything in my family forever. I watched helplessly as my mother – who had struggled to keep our family going during the nine months of my father’s illness – deal with the immediate reality of his passing and the grief of his absence from our lives.
If my father confronted his own death, he did so privately, without words and without us. Years later, when my mother was dying, we did it differently. We talked. We planned. We even laughed. Being open about death doesn’t lessen the pain and grief. But it can bring peace of mind. That’s why I’m involved in DeathWise.
Susan Thomas has 25 years’ experience working with organizations and individuals to build credibility and awareness for their business and personal initiatives. A former journalist, her chief skills lie in positioning, messaging and go-to-market strategies.
Tamisie Honey
Board Member
In dealing with the death of many family members, I’ve come to realize how vitally important it is to open up and have the conversation early on, to help unlock the wishes that exist but have not yet found a voice.
My hope is that DeathWise® will provide the necessary tools to help make and document these very deep and important decisions, so that one’s choices regarding the end of one’s life can be known and honored.
I’d like to help make the process of decision making around death easier, more straightforward, providing support during this challenging time. I’m honored to be a board director helping to build this organization.
Tamisie Honey has helped build several early stage companies in her professional career. She has also served as a deeply committed volunteer leader in her community. As a daughter, a sister, and a mother, she has built a lifetime of experience handling the myriad details that life and death require.
Rolf Erickson
Editor-in-Chief
My wife Renee and I moved to Oregon in 2001 to be primary caregivers for my parents. We lived with them for the last two years of my father’s life, and then brought my mother to live with us in Iowa. By the time she died four years later, I had learned most of what I wish I’d known right from the beginning. But by then, it was too late to take advantage of everything I’d discovered.
When Anne invited me to be a part of DeathWise, I saw it as an opportunity to help others prepare for the death of their parents, and perhaps to come gently to terms with their own mortality as well. I feel that it’s time for a more open and natural approach to death. And DeathWise® is here to support that transition.
Rolf Erickson has 25 years of experience in the non-profit sector as an executive, educator, and magazine editor. He currently works as a freelance writer, editor and marketer. He helps companies and organizations clarify their mission, message and voice.
