North Shore-Boston Chapter
The Compassionate Friends
North Shore - Boston Chapter
Grief Support after the Death of a Child
This website is dedicated to the memory of all of our children.
The Mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.
We are a national, nonprofit, self-help organization that offers friendship, understanding and hope to bereaved parents, grandparents and siblings. Our meetings are open to all family members who are grieving the death of a child, grandchild or sibling. There is no religious affiliation and no dues or fees.
WE NEED NOT WALK ALONE
WE ARE THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS
CHAPTER MEETINGS
Since April 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our chapter began holding bi-monthly online video meetings.
As of January 2021, we added one in-person meeting per month to our meeting schedule.
The in-person meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of each month. The online video meetings are held on the first Monday and the third Wednesday of each month. If the first Monday of the month happens to be on a holiday, that meeting will be re-scheduled to the first Tuesday of the month.
Sibling online video meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month.
More detailed information about our upcoming chapter meetings can be found below in the Meeting Updates column.
An email invitation will be sent to members prior to each meeting. You may also request an invitation by emailing tcfnoshoreconnect@gmail.com to let us know that you would like to participate.
In addition to our online chapter meetings, other support options are listed below:
1) TCF Live Chats: The National TCF website offers scheduled Live Chat sessions on different days and with different topics. The details can be found here: National TCF Live Chat Schedule
2) Private Facebook Groups: TCF offers several private Facebook groups facilitated by bereaved parents, grandparents or siblings. They can be accessed here: TCF Private Facebook Groups
3) TCF North Shore-Boston Facebook Page: Our chapter has its own Facebook page that is active with members from our chapter. You can access it here: TCF North Shore-Boston Facebook Page
Website Sponsor Messages
Our website is sponsored this November
in loving memory of:
JIMMY KIRIAKOS
Someone is Missing
Let this be a loving reminder
That someone is missing today,
Someone our hearts still hold on to,
As we travel along life’s way.
Someone who made life so special,
For all those who gather here
Someone who won’t be forgotten,
But cherished from year to year.
And now, as we pause to remember,
Let us all fondly recall
How dearly each of us loved him,
And oh how he loved us all!
We miss you Jimmy so very much!
Love, Your Family & Friends
CARY DEAN THABET
“God Looked Around His garden and found an empty place.
He then looked down upon the earth and saw your tired face.
He put His arms around you and lifted You to rest.
God’s garden must be beautiful, he always takes the best.
He saw the road was getting rough and the hills were hard to climb
So He closed your weary eyelids and whispered, “Peace be thine.”
It broke our hearts to lose you, but you did not go alone.
For part of us went with you the day God called you home.”
My dear Cary, I know the pain you felt
the moment we learned the news of Jamie,
you suffered, you are now at peace,
and I miss you both every day.
You and Jamie are the best thing
that ever happened to me.
You made me the happiest I have ever been and the saddest I will ever be.
I love you my sweet boys…until we meet again.
Love you to the heavens and back…
Love Mum
Meeting Updates
Our December 2023 chapter meetings will be held on:
Monday - 12/423
7:00 PM
Online Video Meeting
(E-mail invitation to follow)
You may also contact
to request an invitation
Topic: Open Sharing Session
Wednesday - 12/20/23
7:00 PM
Online Video Meeting
(E-mail invitation to follow)
You may also contact
to request an invitation
Topic: Open Sharing Session
-and-
Sibling Online Video Meeting
7:30 PM
(E-mail invitation to follow)
You may also contact Aimeeb15@gmail.com
if you would like to participate
Topic: Self Care After a Loss
Wednesday - 12/27/23
7:00 PM
In-Person Meeting
Please contact
if you would like to attend
Topic: Open Sharing Session
Click here for our 2023 schedule:
In the event of inclement weather, necessitating the closing of North Reading public schools, our chaper meeting will also be canceled.
Event Updates
See information below for upcoming TCF events:
CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE SERVICE
SUNDAY
12/10/23
6:30 PM
Aldersgate United Methodist Church
235 Park Street
No. Reading, MA
Click here for additional information:
Website Sponsor Messages
Our website is sponsored this December in loving memory of:
JILLIAN ANNE SULLIVAN
Dear Jillian,
I love and miss you so much.
Recently I am remembering
the joy you had playing in the fall leaves
on a beautiful sunny day
and it reminds me to appreciate
moments of joy in this life.
Losing you to this life crushed me
but through my continued
connection to you,
finding community who
understands my pain,
and by the grace of God,
I got up again.
I walk each day knowing I am not alone
and each step brings me closer to you.
Love, Mom
JULIA FORMAN
In memory of our beautiful Julia:
If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye.
For I have left my heart with you,
So don’t you ever cry.
The love that’s deep within me,
Shall reach you from the stars,
You’ll feel it from the heavens,
And it will heal the scars.
Love,
Mom, Bob, Josh, Brie, Claire & Evie
Event Updates
See information below for upcoming TCF events:
CANDLELIGHT REMBRANCE SERVICE
Sunday, December 10, 2023
6:30 PM
Aldersgate United Methodist Church
235 Park Street
North Reading, MA
Click here for additional information:
Website Sponsor Messages
Our website is sponsored this October in
loving memory of:
KAYLA ANNE BELL
YOU DON’T JUST LOSE SOMEONE ONCE
You lose them over and over, sometimes many times a day.
When the loss, momentarily forgotten, creeps up, and attacks you from behind.
Fresh waves of grief as the realization hits home, they are gone.
Again.
You don’t just lose someone once, you lose them every time you
open your eyes to a new dawn, and as you awaken, so does your memory,
so does the jolting bolt of lightning that rips into your heart, they are gone.
Again.
Losing someone is a journey, not a one-off.
There is no end to the loss, there is only a learned skill on
how to stay afloat, when it washes over.
Be kind to those who are sailing this stormy sea,
they have a journey ahead of them, and a daily shock to the system
each time they realize, they are gone,
Again.
You don’t just lose someone once, you lose them every day, for a lifetime.
( By Donna Ashworth)
We love you and miss you, Kayla
Love, Mom, Dad & Kieran
TIMOTHY GLENDINNING
Gifts From Timothy
October 27th is your 27th Birthday, I have given you models over the years with your birth date on it, but since you left us 6 years ago last month, I want to thank you for several of the gifts you have given all of us. Your gifts have certainly kept our connection of love for you as strong as ever for evermore.
Here are a few of the Gifts From Timothy:
The day after you left us, in our back yard from the woods, the male bucks came out to meet and somehow have their own send off for you. The feeling/energy in the air made the hairs on my arms stand-up. Weeks later while up in your room, there was Besa’s painting she did for you years earlier of the ‘Buck in the Forest’, it looked exactly like that evening in our back yard, A Gift From Timothy.
One year later, Mom and I were up having dinner with Katherine in Portland, and it was the first anniversary of your angel date, a very tough day. As we drove away at the traffic light was a red convertible sports car. As it pulled away from the light, the license plate read: ‘For Tim’, another Gift From Timothy.
Many of your friends stopped by after losing you, and Collin told us of your last tagging (your spray painting on the overpass by MASCO). To drive by and see your artwork, as though you were just here making your final mark for us to find, A Gift From Timothy.
We feel you in the woods, at the beach, any time nature’s beauty takes our breath away, you are here with us. The sunsets, the morning sun rises, the still moments after a snow fall in winter, the autumn colors, it’s all a Gift From Timothy.
I always smile and say thank you, no need to question how it happened or any concerns why, it’s all a Gift From Timothy.
We appreciate these gifts, please keep them coming, wherever and whenever. We miss you and love you every single moment evermore.
Love, Mom, Dad and Katherine
Meeting Updates
Our November 2023 chapter meetings will be held on:
Monday - 12/4/23
Online Video Meeting - 7:00 PM
(E-mail invitation to follow)
You may also contact
to request an invitation
Topic: Open Sharing Session
Wednesday - 11/15/23
Online Video Meeting - 7:00 PM
(E-mail invitation to follow)
You may also contact
to request an invitation
Topic: Open Sharing Session
-and-
Sibling Online Video Meeting - 7:30 PM
(E-mail invitation to follow)
You may also contact
if you would like to participate
Topic: Self Care After a Loss
Wednesday - 12/27/23
In-Person Meeting - 7:00 PM
Please contact
if you would like to attend
Topic: Open Sharing Session
Click here for our 2023 schedule:
In the event of inclement weather, necessitating the closing of North Reading public schools, our chapter meeting will also be canceled.
Website Sponsor Messages
Our website is sponsored this December in loving memory of:
JILLIAN ANNE SULLIVAN
Dear Jillian,
I love and miss you so much.
Recently I am remembering
the joy you had playing in the fall leaves
on a beautiful sunny day
and it reminds me to appreciate
moments of joy in this life.
Losing you to this life crushed me
but through my continued connection to you,
finding community who understands my pain,
and by the grace of God, I got up again.
I walk each day knowing I am not alone
and each step brings me closer to you.
Love, Mom
JULIA FORMAN
In memory of our beautiful Julia:
If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye.
For I have left my heart with you,
So don’t you ever cry.
The love that’s deep within me,
Shall reach you from the stars,
You’ll feel it from the heavens,
And it will heal the scars.
Love,
Mom, Bob, Josh, Brie, Claire & Evie
Chapter Meeting Updates
Our December 2023 chapter meetings
will be held on:
Tuesday, 12/4/23 - 7:00 PM
Online Video Meeting
(Email invitation to follow)
You may also contact tcfnoshoreconnect@gmail.com
to request an invitation
Topic: Open Sharing Session
Wednesday - 12/20/23 - 7:00 PM
Online Video Meeting
(Email invitation to follow)
You may also contact tcfnoshoreconnect@gmail.com
to request an invitation
Topic: Open Sharing Session
-and-
Sibling Online Video Meeting - 7:30 PM
(Email invitation to follow)
You may also contact Aimeeb15@gmail.com
if you would like to participate
Topic: Self Care After a Loss
Wednesday - 12/27/23 - 7:00 PM
In-Person Meeting
Please contact tcfnoshoreconnect@gmail.com
if you would like to attend
Topic: Open Sharing Session
Click here for our 2023 schedule:
In the event of inclement weather, necessitating the closing of
North Reading public schools, our in-person chapter meetings
will also be canceled.