Stephanie Smith

Wilmington, NC

Stephanie is the Founder and serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Death Education. Below is the inspiration behind the establishment of the Center for Death Education.

The idea for the Center for Death Education came from the death of my grandmother. For the last five years of her life, I dedicated myself to caring for her. When she passed away, I found myself taken aback by my lack of understanding about the dying process, death, and grief. I was unprepared for the changes her body underwent and the emotional toll it took on me. As someone who values lifelong learning, I felt compelled to delve deeper into this enigmatic journey, but I was unsure how to start. An online search eventually led me to discover the term "thanatology" and I knew I had found my path. I enrolled in the Master's of Thanatology program at Marian University, where I uncovered knowledge beyond my expectations.

I developed an innovative death education course for my thesis project, which I now teach at the university level. Yet, I could not shake the feeling that there was something even more impactful that I could be doing. While I was fortunate to find the intriguing world of thanatology, I recognized that many people do not have the same opportunity. This realization inspired me to establish the Center for Death Education. As a nonprofit organization, the Center for Death Education seeks to make academic knowledge surrounding death, dying, grief, and end-of-life care understandable, accessible, and affordable for everyone. Its vision is to help create a future in which dying, death, and grief are recognized as integral parts of the human experience, and to encourage open and honest discussions about these experiences among family and friends.

Thank you for helping make this vision a reality. 

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