Two reflections by Richard Dassow, featured in Horizon Grief Resource Center’s “Our Community Voices”
I’m grateful to Horizon Grief Resource Center for including two articles I wrote in the “Our Community Voices” section of its Fall 2026 booklet. I wanted to share them here with readers who are walking through grief themselves or who are trying to understand what it’s like for someone they love.
“What a Sheep Detective Movie Taught Me About Grief.”
Since my wife Naomi, whom I called Nomi, went home to be with the Lord, I’ve found that grief can catch me in unexpected places. I never thought a movie about a flock of sheep would make me think about how much I miss her voice, or remind me how much we need one another when someone we love dies. That’s what led me to write “What a Sheep Detective Movie Taught Me About Grief.”
“Grief: A Journey Through Defining Moments,”
The second article, “Grief: A Journey Through Defining Moments,” came out of my search for stories from Nomi’s life before we met. As I learn more about her years as a nurse in Buckhorn, Kentucky, I find myself wishing I could sit down with that younger Nomi and hear those stories in her own words. I also see how much those years shaped the woman I married and the ways we would serve together.
I still miss Nomi. I’m grateful I can keep telling her stories, and I trust that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, walks with me as I learn to live faithfully in this season.
Horizon Grief Resource Center in Milwaukee
If you’re grieving the death of someone you love, Horizon Grief Resource Center in Milwaukee offers free short-term grief counseling, support groups, workshops, and a resource library. The center is open to the public, and no insurance is required. For information about joining a group or making a counseling appointment, call 414-586-8383. Horizon Grief Resource Center
- Horizon’s grief resources — an overview of services and support.
- Horizon’s program calendar — group meetings, classes, and registration details.
Horizon’s official site confirms the free services and direct phone number, and its calendar lists a group for people who have lost a spouse or partner.
Grief, Truth and the Good Shepherd – Faith Vision Service
What a Sheep Detective Movie Taught Me About Grief
By Richard Dassow
Published in “Our Community Voices,” Horizon Grief Resource Center’s Fall 2026 booklet, page 9.
Recently, I watched The Sheep Detectives, an unusual mystery about a flock of sheep trying to discover what happened to their shepherd. Although lighthearted, the story touched something deeper in me. The sheep loved their shepherd. They remembered his voice and the stories he had read to them. When he was gone, they knew his absence mattered. They searched for truth together. Their story reminded me of grief.
Love remembers. Since my wife, Naomi, went home to be with the Lord, I have often returned to memories—not only memories of sorrow, but of love, faith, service, and God’s providence. Naomi’s compassion as a nurse, her love for Jesus, and her influence upon our family and church community still shape me.
Grief is sometimes a kind of searching. We search for meaning, for what remains, and for how to live faithfully when someone we love is no longer beside us. Grief is not a lack of faith. It is love continuing after death.
The sheep also needed one another. No single sheep understood everything, but together they listened, remembered, and noticed what others missed. I believe grieving people also need a “flock”—friends, family, counselors, support groups, and Christian community. We were not created to walk through sorrow alone.
Most of all, the movie reminded me of Jesus’ words: “I am the good shepherd.” Psalm 23 does not promise that we will avoid the valley of the shadow of death. It promises that our Shepherd will accompany us through it.
I still miss Naomi’s voice, presence, and companionship. Yet I believe she is safely with Christ. I am still learning how to live faithfully in this season, but I am not alone. The Good Shepherd knows me, walks beside me, and is still writing the larger story.
Grief: A Journey Through Defining Moments
By Richard Dassow
Published in “Our Community Voices,” Horizon Grief Resource Center’s Fall 2026 booklet, page 9.
When my wife, Naomi, died on November 8, 2024, after forty-five years of marriage, my life changed forever. Grief has not been a straight path with a clear beginning and ending. It has been a journey filled with unexpected turns, memories, questions, tears, and even moments of gratitude.
Nearly twenty-one months later, I sometimes wonder why certain waves of grief are so strong. I am beginning to understand that I am not only grieving Naomi’s absence today. I am also grieving parts of her life that I never fully knew.
Before we met, Naomi spent formative years as a public-health nurse in northern Wisconsin and at a rural clinic in Buckhorn, Kentucky. She traveled into mountain communities, made home visits, lived with a remarkable midwife, and grew spiritually through those experiences. Recently, I have found myself longing to meet that younger Naomi and understand more fully how she became the compassionate woman I married.
I may never recover every story from those years. That realization brings sorrow, but it also reminds me that her life continues to bear fruit. The compassion, faith, and desire to serve others that Naomi developed became part of our marriage, our family, and the ministries we later shared.
Grief has taught me that defining moments do not end when someone dies. Remembering Naomi, honoring her life, and learning to live faithfully without her are defining moments in my life now. Moving forward does not mean leaving Naomi behind. It means carrying her love, influence, and legacy with me as I continue the journey—one day, one memory, and one faithful step at a time.
