About

Welcome

If you have clicked on this website because you, like us, have been widowed, please know that we are deeply sorry for your loss. We truly are. We emphasize this because we know that, prior to our own widowhood, we simply had no concept of the searing pain inflicted on the living by the loss of a beloved spouse—a loss you are now enduring. Before we were widowed, we conveyed well-meaning words of condolence to widows and widowers but those words were devoid of true understanding of death’s destructive aftermath on the surviving spouse. We do understand now. We want you to know that you are not alone on your journey of widowhood. The Lord has not forsaken you. His love for you and His plans for your welfare have not changed. He will see you through this seemingly overwhelming trial. Your pain will abate with time. Things will get better. Trust Him. Draw close to Him. Allow others to help you bear your burden. Serve Him in your widowhood. Grieve, but not as others who have no hope.

We pray that our book will be an asset to you as you navigate your widowhood journey. If you don’t already have a copy, you can obtain one through the publisher or through Amazon. (See links below). Should the Lord lead you to consider remarriage, we trust that you will find our book useful. We created this website to provide links to additional resources you might find helpful, particularly if you are in the early stages of widowhood.

About Us

We were each widowed in 2016. Deb lost Cliff (Shattuck) to pancreatic cancer in March 2016 after 32 years of marriage and Richard lost Tammy to pancreatic cancer in June 2016 after 40 years of marriage. Over the ensuing year plus, we each tried to navigate our grief in a godly way while carrying on with our day-to-day responsibilities. Deb, a retired Air Force Colonel, continued her work as a college history professor at the (now closed) Christian school, John Witherspoon College. Richard continued to homeschool and raise his 13-year-old son while juggling his job as a computer engineer at the nearby Air Force base and teaching mathematics at the local Christian high school.

Members of the same church, we periodically exchanged e-mails of encouragement on particularly difficult occasions (holidays, former wedding anniversaries, birthdays of our late spouses, anniversaries of their diagnoses and deaths, etc.) Though we initially had no romantic interest in each other, the Lord had other plans for us. In August 2017, God placed within each of us a deep love for the other and called us to embark on a new covenant marriage. We married on November 12, 2017.

From the beginning of our marriage, we felt God’s leading to write a book that would teach our brothers and sisters in Christ how to honor God in their marriages. That manuscript included a chapter on widowhood and remarriage which Shepherd Press published in December 2025 as the book you see featured on this website. We continue to rejoice in the Lord’s amazing provision for us as we seek to honor and serve Him in our marriage. We continue to polish the marriage book manuscript and hope to publish it soon.

We joined a church plant, Grace Church of the Black Hills, in 2022. Richard serves as an Elder and Equipping Hour teacher and Deb leads the women’s Bible Study program. With eight grown children, seventeen (soon to be nineteen) grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren between us, flung about the country from coast to coast, we do a fair bit of traveling to visit them. We love the Lord; we love each other; and we love the precious gift of marriage that God has bestowed on His children.

Real

Addresses the reality of Christian death and grief and how to practically navigate the loss of a spouse.

Biblical

Combination of biblical guidelines and practical application.

Practical

Practical guidance on matters like blending families, closing old bank accounts, choosing where to live, etc.

Bite-Sized

Bite-sized chapters and sections.