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HOW TO WRITE A CONDOLENCE LETTER TO SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW WHO HAS LOST A LOVED ONE TO COVID-19

Published June 3, 2020 Blog, Casey's Stories Comments
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[READER NOTE: If you want to go right to the letter-writing part, scroll down to THE SIX INGREDIENTS TO A BEAUTIFUL CONDOLENCE LETTER, and then the sample letters at the end of the Post. Casey] Let’s first hit the “Why” I don’t need to tell you the Covid 19 Pandemic is unlike anything our present […]

DANDELIONS-GOD’S MOST PERFECT FLOWERS

Published May 21, 2020 Blog Comments
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Most adults would claim that Dandelions are WEEDS and they have absolutely no business surviving and thriving in an otherwise perfectly manicured lawn. Adults would say that because they have lost their ability to actually see the magic of a Dandelion. Unscrew those adult eyes and screw in the eyes of a child. Dandelions are […]

MAKE A WISH

Published May 14, 2020 Blog Comments
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We celebrated Hilary’s birthday last Thursday. I won’t mention the number—suffice it to say her seventh decade is in the rear-view mirror. With the quarantine and all, a surprise party was out of the question. I decided to create a virtual Birthday Card for Hilary and asked family and friends to send birthday messages, videos […]

IS IT OK TO SEND A CONDOLENCE CARD TO SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW?

Published April 8, 2020 Blog Comments
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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood— She took the one to travel with me In November 2018, Hilary read in the San Diego Union Tribune an obituary for Joan Kazmarek. It was beautiful. It even opened with a slight variation of Robert Frost’s infamous poem, The Road Not Taken. It was obvious to Hilary […]

Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse= Coronavirus?

Published March 29, 2020 Blog, Stories Comments
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There is no longer a sequel in the works and Michael Keaton, at least as of now, has yet to come down with the Coronavirus (unlike his contemporary Tom Hanks, who always seems to get the part). Hollywood, we are told, is shut down and sheltering in place. But that doesn’t mean we don’t feel […]

ANGELS AMONG US

Published March 20, 2020 Blog, Casey And Friends Comments
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Introduction. My friend and muse, Mike Lueth, has shared with us another beautiful story that will touch us all, deeply. Thank-you, Mike, and God bless you. Angels Among Us, by Mike Lueth My nephew, Scott, and I were deep in the northern Wisconsin woods hunting deer. It was a cloudy Thanksgiving Day back in 1981. […]

OUR OWN DEFINITION OF TRAGEDY

Published March 16, 2020 Blog Comments
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Hilary summed it up well. We parents who have lost children have our own definition of ‘tragedy.’ It was Friday night and we were having our traditional martini— better known now as a ‘quarantini’—discussing the tumultuous events of the week. The crazy times unfolding in the wake of the ever-expanding COVID-19 outbreak. The human tragedy—loss […]

MORE ON THE VEIL

Published March 12, 2020 Blog Comments
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As I hit send on WITH US IN A NEW WAY, I knew deep in my gut I was asking you to attempt a swim with me across a very wide and turbulent river to the proposition that: When a critical mass of US truly accepts and acknowledges those we deeply love are all around […]

SWIMMING TO THE OTHER SIDE

Published March 9, 2020 Blog Comments
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I put the finishing touches on WITH US IN A NEW WAY and sent it on Monday (March 2nd) to Mike Lueth, since he was the genesis of this cosmic probe. I suppose—no, in fact—I was looking for some anchor for the possibly insane deep feeling in my gut that the veil between This Side […]

WITH US IN A NEW WAY

Published March 3, 2020 Blog Comments
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In March of 2014 I published a post on WMSB HOW TO WRITE A BEAUTIFUL CONDOLENCE CARD TO SOMEONE WHO HAS LOST A CHILD. It is far and away the most visited post on the site. In addition to many DON’TS, I offered the following ingredients for a beautiful message: Open strong with something from […]

Write Me Something Beautiful Authors - Casey and Jimmy Gauntt

Casey Gauntt

is a retired attorney and former senior executive of a major San Diego real estate company. He lives in Solana Beach, California, with his wife, Hilary. Casey grew up in Itasca, Illinois, graduated Lake Park High School in 1968, and received B.S., JD and MBA degrees from the University of Southern California.

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HOW TO WRITE A CONDOLENCE LETTER TO SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW WHO HAS LOST A LOVED ONE TO COVID-19

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Jimmy Gauntt

was born and raised in Solana Beach and graduated from Torrey Pines High School in 2002. A prestigious Trustee Scholar at the University of Southern California, he majored in English and Spanish. He authored six plays, five screenplays, and a multitude of poems and short stories. Beginning in 2010, the USC English Department annually bestows the Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award—aka “The Jimmy”—to the top graduates in English. Jimmy passed over to the other side in 2008 at age 24.