✨June News from The DC Death Collective✨

A community collaborative serving death workers and death-curious folks in the larger Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia region

Issue #15, June 2026

Hi, all!✨

We’re coming off an amazing event with Darnell Lamont Walker last week at Solid State Books — he came to town for a talk about his new book Never Can Say Goodbye: The Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful End and packed the house while doing it! It was a joy to sit with him and other members ahead of time for some reflective writing prompts, and to hear the thoughtful questions from friends old and new who came along for the ride. A big shoutout to members Jaya Saxena and Leslie Tolf for dreaming up the event and making it happen!

Speaking of new friends, you’ll see that we’re featuring a new column below welcoming in the fresh faces to DCDC. I was personally so excited when this landed on my desk, and I’m looking forward to connecting with y’all as the months go on.

And finally, some things I’m thinking about this Pride month: Old Dykes, which I saw at the Queer Applachian Film Festival last year (keywords: hospice, unspoken love, yearning) and The Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts. I can’t recommend them enough if you can manage to get your hands on them.

In community,

Robin Miniter, Co-Founder of The DC Death Collective

✨A welcome to new supporting members!✨

by Laura Lyster-Mensh, DCDC Steering Committee Member & Membership Maven

Our Supporting Membership is growing: we are now 43 death workers of various kinds in the DC area, all contributing to the community through donations, volunteering, and showing up! We invite you to meet some of our membership on our public directory. Our community includes those who are caring for dying people, doing death education, pre-planning, legacy work, grief work, officiating, and burials. We are also proud to know a poet, a psychic, and several artists. Join us! Meet a few of this year’s new members:

✨Elizabeth Baudhuin helps people have heart-to-heart conversations with their animal companions to live in greater harmony, here and hereafter.

✨Betsy Trapasso is an end-of-life guide and advocate who hosts the upcoming podcast Interviews with the Influential because the dying told her to.

✨Jamie Arthurs’ passion and purpose is gatherings: from more traditional religious celebrations to those with live music, food, dancing and everything in between.

✨Mina Devadas is an end-of-life doula, hospice volunteer, and doula educator who offers post-death support, community education, and deathcare advocacy and systems change initiatives.

✨Jas Shackelford is a community servant, death doula, grief advocate and ritualist based in Northern VA and Washington, DC.

✨Patricia Dubroof’s expertise in the field of dying led to her traveling exhibition “Who Cares?” featuring her portraits of caregivers and their stories.

✨Lillie J. Harris is a cartoonist, writer, and death doula and founder of a service that supports those who are dying and their loved ones through tactile, non-judgmental visual art making.

✨Kristina Antolin Davies devoted 15 years to ministry before following a calling into practicing and teaching yoga and doing death work.

✨NOTES FROM THE FIELD: A BOOK TALK WITH DARNELL LAMONT WALKER✨

by Leslie Tolf, DCDC Steering Committee Member

On June 1st, members of DCDC gathered at Solid State Books on H Street NE for an evening with death doula, storyteller, and author Darnell Lamont Walker. In conversation with DC Death Collective supporting member Jaya Saxena, Walker discussed his debut book, Never Can Say Goodbye: The Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful End, and explored themes of grief, caregiving, storytelling, and mortality. The bookstore was packed, reflecting a growing desire for honest conversations about death and dying. Supporting members got an extra-special treat with a pre-event writing workshop.

Throughout the evening, Walker emphasized that death is not separate from life. The ways we love, listen, and accompany one another are the same skills that help us navigate dying. He challenged the common tendency to avoid conversations about death. The most important skills, he suggested, are learning to sit with discomfort, listen without trying to fix things, and remain present when there are no easy answers.

Walker also reflected on grief within Black communities and his hope that Never Can Say Goodbye offers readers permission and connection where silence, isolation, and systemic injustice have existed.

A big thank you to David Dolinsky and Ben from Solid State Books for capturing the night!

✨WHAT WE’RE READING✨

by Ali Brill, DCDC Steering Committee Member

“Oh, yes, in case you were wondering, your cat will not eat your eyeballs. 'Not right away, at least.' But your dog? Fido will eat you 'without remorse.”

Will the Cat Eat my Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty

Caitlin Doughty — mortician, author, death-ed icon — answers the wonderful and weird questions that we might be wondering about: for example (and the book’s namesake): will my cat eat my eyeballs? (Maybe.) What actually happens to your skeleton? How deep do you bury a pet if you want it to mummify? Brisk, funny, and genuinely illuminating, with a bonus interview on talking to kids about death — who, it turns out, ask the best questions.

Join Ali and other bookish deathworkers for a discussion from 6:00 PM-7:00 PM on Sunday, July 26th in Takoma Park! RSVP here.

✨UPCOMING MEMBER EVENTS✨

The selection of events below is hosted by DCDC members. For our full, more broad-reaching community calendar, head on over to our website.

MULTIPLE DEATH CAFÉ OFFERINGS

💛 Death Café at All Souls Unitarian Church | Sunday, June 7, 2026; July 12, 2026; August 2, 2026| 12:10–1:30 PM 📍 1500 Harvard Street NW. Join DCDC steering committee member Leslie Tolf for a monthly cafe gathering. You can find more information here.

💛 Conversations In the Park: Death Cafe | Sunday, June 7, 2026; 6:00–7:30 PM 📍 Glencarlyn Library - Outdoors in the Garden, 300 S Kensington St, Arlington, VA. Join DCDC steering committee member Leslie Tolf for a monthly cafe gathering. You can find more information here.

💛 Conversations Over Cake | Tuesday, June 30th, 2026; Tuesday, July 28, 2026 | 6:00PM-7:00PM 📍 Arlington Public Library, 2100 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington, VA. Join us for tea, cake, and talks of our mortal coil in a beautiful setting. More information can be found here.

💛 Ethical Will / Legacy Letter Workshop| Monday, June 22nd, 7:00-8:30 PM; Monday, July 27th, 7:00-8:30 PM| Virtual | Register here

Do you want to write an ethical will? Join this virtual workshop to craft one! Through reflective questions, you will distill your memories, values, favorite rituals, and lessons learned. It's a gift for you and your loved ones, which you can do at any age. Discounts available for couples or pairs of friends who enroll together (and for participants who later enroll in full 1:1 end-of-life planning services). Hosted by DCDC member and death doula Kristen P. Patterson of Sacred Journey Death Doula.

💛 Summer Demystify Death Nature Walks| Saturday, June 27th, 8:30-10:00 AM; Sunday, June 28th, 7:00-8:30 PM; Saturday, August 1st, 8:30-10:00 AM| Glencarlyn Park, 301 S. Harrison Street, Arlington, Va. | Sliding Scale | Register here

Do you find yourself struggling in your current season of life? Perhaps you feel alone, missing a spouse, key friend, or family member who died recently, or many years ago. You may be holding ambiguous grief due to unexpected job loss or the end of a marriage, or anticipatory grief for a loved one with dementia. Join a small group for an intimate walk in nature where we will connect the seasons of our lives with the seasons of nature. Hosted by DCDC member and death doula Kristen P. Patterson of Sacred Journey Death Doula.

💛 DC Death Collective Virtual Check-In | Sunday, July 5, 2026 |
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM | Google Meet link, no RSVP necessary

A gentle, monthly drop-in. Come say hi. Bring your thoughts, questions, or just your face. Whether you’re knee-deep in this work or quietly circling it, this is a space to connect, reflect, and be in community

💛 End of Life Planning 101 | Tuesday, July 14, 2026 | 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM| Virtual | Register here

Are you curious about what end-of-life planning entails? Perhaps it's been on your to-do list for years, but you've never put your wishes on paper. Join a virtual intro workshop on the practical and emotional work of EOLP. Discounts available for couples, pairs of friends, and participants who enroll in full 1:1 end-of-life planning services. Hosted by DCDC member and death doula Kristen P. Patterson of Sacred Journey Death Doula.

💛 Memento Mori Book Club| Sunday, July 26, 2026 | 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM| People’s Book, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave, Takoma Park | RSVP here

Interested in creating community around our shared mortality? Join us every other month for casual chats, guided by our readings, about death, dying, grief, and ultimately, life.

Gatherings are hosted by death doula Ali Brill.