Chairs at the table may be missing, and some for good, but a focus on remembering the good times, the good things, can get us through the holidays.
Barbara A. Walsh
Barbara is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked for newspapers in Ireland, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Florida. While working at the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, Walsh reported on first-degree killer William Horton Jr. and Massachusetts’ flawed prison-furlough system. The series changed in-state sentencing and furlough laws and won a 1988 Pulitzer Prize. During her career at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Barbara wrote in-depth series on several social issues in Maine. Many of her stories changed laws and earned national, state and regional awards. Barbara is also the author of an adult biography/memoir, August Gale: A Father and Daughter’s Journey into the Storm, and Sammy in the Sky, a children’s book illustrated by Jamie Wyeth. She lives on a lake in Maine with her two daughters, husband and Paco, a rescue dog from Puerto Rico. When she is not writing, taking pictures or walking Paco, she can be found sitting by the lake, comforted by its blue-green waters.
LATEST ARTICLES
Playing God with public health
Seven weeks after officiating the now infamous East Millinocket wedding that has resulted in the deaths of eight Maine residents, Sanford pastor Todd Bell continues to defy state and local orders aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19.
The dream of flight — delivered by prayer
Sanford pastor Todd Bell has relied on the kindness of others to support his Wings with the Word aviation ministry and his mission to “plant” churches around Maine.
The Uninvited Tragedy: A wedding — then six funerals
The deaths and infections from COVID-19 in a long-term healthcare facility continue to pile up, leaving families in mourning after a super-spreader event about 100 miles away.
The preacher and the outbreak
For the Sanford pastor at the center of the East Millinocket wedding, sin is ‘a pandemic worse than the coronavirus.’ Now his church has multiple COVID-19 cases.
Maine’s governor born for hard times, and hard decisions
From dealing with a debilitating spinal condition as a teen, to gender bias as an adult and a pandemic as Maine’s leader, Janet Mills proves she can rise above her critics – even the president.
A valiant father, husband and cancer fighter loses the battle to COVID-19
After battling pancreatic cancer for 18 months, Ken Clark fell ill with COVID-19. At a central Maine hospital, his family fought to be by his side during his final moments.
Zooming a final goodbye
Unable to be by their dying mother’s bedside due to coronavirus restrictions, a family gathers on Zoom to tell their mother they loved her.
Saying goodbye to Dad
A journalist can’t help but think of her father’s death as she writes and reports on dying during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Last Responders: Consoling the dying and grieving in the COVID-19 era
The coronavirus pandemic’s last responders – Maine’s priests, chaplains, funeral directors and hospice workers − say the highly infectious virus has upended how they do their jobs. Barred from entering most hospitals and long-term living facilities, chaplains and priests must offer comfort, consolation and prayers electronically. Families are robbed of a final goodbye, and those who are dying of COVID − or any other illness in a confined setting – must die with strangers while longing for the touch of a loved one.
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