Death Demystified With Dr. Deerheart - Ep16: “Walking Him Home: Love, Ritual, and Life After Goodbye with Mary Franz

About this episode

Dr. Deerheart and Mary Franz discuss love, loss, and resilience in the context of end-of-life experiences.

In this deeply intimate episode of Death Demystified , Dr. Deerheart is joined by Mary Franz—retired marriage and family therapist, longtime educator, widow, and HeartWay client—for a courageous and tender conversation about love, loss, and resilience. As the one-year anniversary of her husband’s death approaches, Mary reflects on what it was like to walk beside him at the end of life—participating in sacred rituals such as bathing, anointing, and honoring his body after death. She shares how end-of-life doula support complemented hospice care, filled emotional and spiritual gaps, and allowed her to be both wife and witness, not just caregiver. Together, they explore grief as a living relationship, the slow unfolding of resilience, and the practices that help Mary remain grounded as she steps into a new year with meaning, hope, and love still intact. This episode is an offering for anyone who has loved deeply, lost profoundly, and is learning how to live again

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Deerheart

Guest: Mary Franz

Topics covered

• love
• loss
• resilience
• end-of-life care
• grief
• sacred rituals

Keywords

• death
• grief
• end-of-life doula
• hospice care
• sacred rituals
• resilience
• love

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: HeartWay

More episodes of Death Demystified with Dr. Deerheart

• Episode 22: Ask a Death Doula Series-The Questions We’re Afraid to Ask About Dying, Choice & Liv · May 23, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Death Demystified With Dr. Deerheart - Ep 21: They Said She’d Never Walk Again: She Rewrote the Ending · April 25, 2026 · 56 min
• Death Demystified With Dr. Deerheart - Ep 20: NeuroDiversity with Sari Solden · March 27, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Death Demystified With Dr. Deerheart - Ep19: Holding the Unheld: Jizo, Ritual, and Healing After Infant Loss · February 27, 2026 · 57 min
• Death Demystified With Dr. Deerheart - Ep 17: Finding Peace at Life's End: Essential Questions Every Family Should Know · January 23, 2026 · 53 min
• Death Demystified With Dr. Deerheart - Ep15: When the Season Sparkles and Your Heart Hurts: Holding Grief with Grace with Crystal Potter · December 1, 2025 · 55 min