Dianne West

Widowed in 2010, Dianne has dedicated her post-loss life to giving back to the widowed community. In 2013, she was asked to become the National Volunteer Coordinator for Soaring Spirits International, a non-profit organization committed to providing resources and peer support to people who have lost a spouse or life partner. She serves as the administrator of Widowed Village, an online community for widowed people, and coordinates volunteers for Camp Widow weekends held in Tampa, San Diego and Toronto each year. Additionally, she oversees the Soaring Spirits Regional Group program, local communities of widowed friends throughout the United States and Canada, and co-leads a group in the Las Vegas area.

Originally from a small town in SE Michigan, Dianne married at 18 and was blessed to share 41 years with her husband, Vern. She was his caregiver for over 4 years as he fought multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that attacks the bone marrow, and wrote about this experience in her CaringBridge journal. Following Vern’s death, Dianne started blogging about her widow experience. She discovered Brave Girls Club in 2012 and attended Brave Girl Camps that year and the Soul Comfort Retreat in 2014. She retired from the Las Vegas Valley Water District after 29 years of service, where she edited the employee newsletter, facilitated employee task forces and process improvement teams, managed the employee recognition program and served as assistant to the general manager.