Epitaphing: A Conversation on Life, Loss, and Legacy
This is a digital event. You should receive information in your ticket or from the host about how to join online.
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In this intimate, uplifting program, Wally Klatch shares a practice he calls “epitaphing”: a way of honoring life by carrying forward what is most essential. With honesty and warmth, Wally speaks from his own unfolding experience as someone living with early-stage dementia, inviting us into a different relationship with time, loss, and presence. Together, we will explore how we mark moments of transition with intention and care. Through shared reflection, we’ll consider what it means to name the essence of a life, and how that essence might continue to live on. Wally will then gently guide us through a process of writing a few words that capture what matters most, for you or for someone you love. There will be space for quiet and optional sharing. He will also describe a ceremony he created for older adults to look beyond their working-life years and to plan a future with intention, vision, direction, and mission.
Wally Klatch was diagnosed with early-stage dementia in October 2022. The trauma of the diagnosis and the results of his condition moved Wally to a place he had not known during his previous 70 years. For these last three years Wally has been living in a world that has different people, different activities, different language, different ways of connecting, and a different view of the world than he had before his diagnosis. For those things that have remained the same such as his family and friends, they and Wally have had to learn how to deal with his new reality. As a Reimagine Collaborator, he has hosted talks and conversations on aging, life-cycle events, and transitions.
www.thealzheimersconversation.com
https://www.itsaresonatingworld.com/epitaphing
https://www.itsaresonatingworld.com/barmatzevah
Claire Solomon Nisen, LMSW, MPH, is the Manager of Lasting Impressions programs at DOROT, where we seek to focus effective programs and solutions to reach those who are at higher risk of social isolation and for whom social connections may be more challenging to build. Claire earned a Master’s in Social Work and a Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University, and earned a B.A. in American Studies from Skidmore College.
About DOROT
Founded in 1976, DOROT (“generations” in Hebrew) facilitates a dynamic partnership between older adults, volunteers, and professionals through programs designed to combat social isolation and loneliness and bring the generations together. DOROT is dedicated to enhancing the lives of older adults in the Jewish and wider community to help them live more independently as valued community members. Compassion and a commitment to excellence are hallmarks of DOROT’s programs and staff. The agency is a recognized innovative leader in mobilizing volunteers and infusing social work into its service delivery model. Our vast offerings of programs are conducted onsite, in the home, remotely and in the community.
About Reimagine
Reimagine is a nonprofit organization catalyzing a uniquely powerful community–people of different backgrounds, ages, races, and faiths (and no faith) coming together in the hopes of healing ourselves and the world. We specifically support each other in facing adversity, loss, and mortality and – at our own pace – actively channeling life's biggest challenges into meaningful action and growth.
