SEASON’S GREETINGS
Happy Holidays from Modern Widows Club
As 2023 comes to a close, we’d like to recognize and honor the journey that each of our Wisters (widow + sisters) has made this year. We’re in awe of the courage that shines from you as you create new beginnings for yourself every day.
Although the holiday traditions you had with your beloved have changed, and this time of year can be especially painful, we hope you will feel the power of remembering the love your person brought into your life.
And to our supporters, we extend our sincerest thanks. We’re truly grateful for all that you’ve made possible for widows around the globe this past year.
We wish each of you a meaningful holiday season and joyous new year.
– Modern Widows Club
LEGENDARY WIDOW ROLE MODEL
Joanne Rogers
Our December 2023 Legendary Widow Role Model was born Sara Joanne Byrd in Jacksonville, Florida in 1928.
Joanne began playing the piano before she could recite the alphabet. Her talent for the instrument earned her a scholarship to study piano at Rollins College in Florida, where she met her future husband, Fred Rogers, later host of television’s “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
Joanne earned a Master’s Degree in music from Florida State University while Fred headed to New York for an apprenticeship at NBC Television studios. The two communicated by letter for several years until Fred asked in a letter for Joanne’s hand in marriage.
The couple married in 1952. Joanne raised their two sons, James and John, while continuing her career as a concert pianist and helping with Fred’s television productions. Joanne provided voices for several of the inanimate objects in the attic on “The Children’s Corner,” Fred’s first television show. She helped answer fan mail, was a frequent show guest, and provided the voice for Queen Sara Saturday, the puppet queen on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
When Fred passed away in 2003, Joanne helped carry on his legacy and their shared commitment to supporting children and families. She worked tirelessly to ensure that the beloved TV host wasn’t forgotten after his death. She wanted him to be remembered not as a shiny idol but as the genuine man that she loved.
Joanne served as Chair Emeritus of the Board of Fred Rogers Productions and as honorary chair of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media. She attended the unveiling of Fred’s commemorative U.S. Postal Service stamp and celebrated the 50th anniversary of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” in 2018. That same year, she appeared in the documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” about her husband’s show.
Joanne was honored by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh with the Great Friend of Children Award in 2016, and in 2019, at age 91, she attended the premiere of the film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” starring Tom Hanks as her husband. Joanne passed away in 2021.
Read about our other Legendary Widow Role Models here.
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENTS
People May Not Understand…
By Cyndi Williams, MSW, LCSW
People may not understand why I celebrate the birthday of this man who will be forever 40, but I will keep doing it as long as I need to.
People may not understand why I bring you flowers, but I will continue to do so until I’ve paid back all the bouquets you bought me with interest!
People may not understand why I wear your favorite Bluesier pride blue and yellow, the sapphire earrings you bought me when we barely had two dimes to rub together sometimes, or wear a hat to celebrate you when you aren’t here to see and join in, but it makes me feel like I’m wrapped in a hug from you when I do it in your honor.
People may not understand why we continue to share your favorite Qdoba meal together or go bowling for your birthday, but never forgetting you is the only gift we can give you today.
People may not understand why we bring things to clean your plaque every time we visit, but it’s our way of protecting and caring for your forever home the way you always cared for your family’s home.
People may not understand… and I hope they never do.
Widowed in 2013, Cyndi Williams is a mental health advisor and contributor for Modern Widows Club. Follow her on Facebook at CyndiWilliamsLCSW.
MWC VIDEO
What Our Logo Symbolizes
The Modern Widows Club logo is the foundation of our brand identity. It’s also a deeply meaningful visual representation of our organization, symbolizing the reason we’re here.
Our video “What Our Logo Symbolizes” was created in collaboration with Full Sail University SPARK students.
Click below to watch the video and learn about the many ways our logo purposefully conveys information about the widows we serve around the globe.
YEAR-END GIVING
Creating Permanent Impact and Change for Widows and Their Families
With the end of the calendar year fast approaching, there are just a few weeks left to maximize your tax benefits with year-end giving.
When you give a tax-deductible gift to Modern Widows Club, it helps widows around the globe connect with one another and develop community, friendships, and crucial support systems.
Along with the primary loss of their spouse, widows experience countless secondary losses that may include loss of identity, loss of purpose, loss of financial stability, loss of friendships, loss of parenting partner, and loss of dreams for the future.
These secondary losses often lead to severe depression, sleep deprivation, and other mental and physical health impacts.
Our research-based public health initiatives mitigate negative mental and physical health outcomes associated with widowhood and social isolation, ultimately reducing demands on a community’s healthcare system — but we can’t do it without your help.
Please consider making a year-end tax-deductible donation to Modern Widows Club. There are four easy ways to give:
Scan the QR code above
Text “INVISIBLE” TO 1-407-602-6868
Mail your check (payable to Modern Widows Club) to 127 W. Fairbanks Avenue, #282, Winter Park, FL 32789
Your gift will help create lasting change in the life of a widow. Thank you for making a difference.
MWC ART CLUB
Join Us January 7 for a Special 2024 Vision Collage Workshop
In this Zoom-based Vision Collage Workshop with Dr. Linda Shanti McCabe, you will make a collage listening to the Wise part of yourself that is always there, but to whom you may forget to listen. You will journal from your Wise voice, make a vision collage, receive (guided) feedback, and make a poem to light your way through 2024.
It is just as it sounds: a collage of your vision, your ideal life and self. It is a visual representation of what you would like to live your way into. It can be as literal and/or non-literal as you would like. It may be specific/personal (such as a new job, romantic partner, carrying grief gracefully, enjoying freedom from disordered eating or addictive behaviors, creating a daily meditation practice, accepting your body as it is, becoming more antiracist, bringing peaceful energy to your home and place of work), how you would like to feel (such as safe, loved, free from anxiety, peaceful), or larger intentions (such as being of service, helping decrease global warming, getting curious about/facilitating nondenominational healing between religions, practicing more patience and humility, creating meaning in moving forward with grief).
The workshop will be held Sunday, January 7, 1:30-4:00pm ET.
The regular cost to attend this workshop is $55. MWC Art Club members can register for just $25! You MUST register in advance!
MWC BOOK CLUB
Join Us for Our January Book Club
Our virtual Book Club for widows meets on Zoom the third Monday of each month. Our next meeting is January 15 at 8pm ET. We’ll be discussing Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing widow Tova Sullivan's unlikely connection with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, where Tova began working after her husband died.
Click below to sign up for our Book Club, then join us January 15 for a thoughtful discussion. There’s no cost to join or attend.
If you’d like a preview of all 2024 Book Club selections, please click here to download a PDF. Please note, all selections are subject to change without notice.