Paul Bennett

Paul Bennett's quiet and carefully managed life took an unpredictable turn when Bonnie Bunting, his wife of 18 years, was diagnosed with a rare and dangerous form of melanoma. Two years later, in December of 2002, she died.

Loving Grief grew from Paul's conversations with friends and with a grief counselor, and from the journal in which he explored the bewildering experience of grief. Deeply immersed in his loss, inventing rituals to remember Bonnie and to celebrate her, Paul also reflected on the path of diminishing hope that brought them to Bonnie's final days of life and her decision to accept her own death. Loving Grief is at once a memoir and a probing inquiry into the lessons that grief can teach us about love, with each chapter rouned out by a piece of poetry that expresses what narrative and discourse cannot.

After 35 years writing about public issues, the environment, health care and education, Paul Bennett has stepped through the door of grief into a new life; the lessons of grief that he explores in Loving Grief have led him to dedicate himself to writing from the heart, and with his wife, Carol Herndon, to leading other couples in experiences that expand their freedom to grow in love and fulfillment.