Meet Joe & Marcia
Joe Merkle came to grief work through loss of his own. After the death of his wife of forty-six years, life changed in ways he never could have imagined. In time, he began volunteering with hospice bereavement outreach, work he came to see not simply as service, but as a calling.
Writing became part of that same journey. Joe’s stories often return to the places grief takes us, the love that remains, and the quiet ways people learn to live again after loss.
Marcia Stanton also knows grief from the inside. Widowed herself, she understands how deeply the loss of a spouse can alter the shape of a life. She and Joe first came to know one another through Zoom meetings they both attended during their own seasons of grief.
They later met in person at her husband’s memorial. From there, friendship slowly became something more.
Together, Joe and Marcia created Love From Grief from lived experience rather than theory. Their hope is simple: to offer companionship, honesty, and encouragement to people walking a road they once had to learn themselves.