A Widower’s Journey Out Of Darkness

There Is Always Hope.

Before The Beginning

On Dec. 26, 1993, Kathy Wilson became Kathy Schlachtenhaufen in the University of Central Oklahoma Y Chapel of Song. On Jan. 15, 2026, my first and only wife died from dementia related to hydrocephalus (water on the brain). For the previous 7 years, I was her 24/7 caregiver, allowing her to spend her final years at home. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t know how I would react.