Board Members

President Merilynne Rush, MSHP, RN, BSN, co-founder, former home birth midwife and hospice nurse, is an End-of-Life Doula Trainer, Respecting Choices® Facilitator and Instructor, home funeral guide, and green burial educator. She is a Nurse Educator with an MS in Hospice and Palliative Studies. Rush owns two end-of-life related businesses, Lifespan Doulas, and After Death Home Care. She founded and facilitates the Ann Arbor Death Café, and is an emeritus member of the National Home Funeral Alliance and Green Burial Council boards of directors.

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Vice President Angela Shook has been the Central Area Director for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals since 2008. She holds a degree in Journalism from Western Michigan University and has trained in storytelling for nonprofit organizations. Angela sits on the Board of Directors for the Hurley Hospital Foundation and the Kalamazoo Salvation Army. She has completed end-of-life doula training from the University of Vermont and INELDA. She is hospice volunteer and peer trainer with Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals,  NEDA, INELDA, and the National Home Funeral Alliance. She resides in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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Secretary Lisa Patterson is a Professional Counselor by trade, with degrees in Psychology, and certifications in grief support and palliative care social work, she is currently training as an MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) instructor.   She coordinates the Mercy Supportive Care Services Pain & Palliative consultative department at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac, MI; she also directs the “No One Dies Alone” and Bereavement programs there.  A well-seasoned clinical human services provider, educator, advocate, outdoor enthusiast, pastoral care associate and volunteer, Lisa is also an EOL Doula.

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Treasurer Joseph Knight brings over 30 years of managerial experience to the board and currently is the Quality Assurance Manager for Olympic Steel in Detroit MI. He has been a member of the board of examiners for the national Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Award and is a judge for the Michigan Performance Excellence program. In addition to a BS in Industrial Administration from GMI, he has an MS in Hospice and Palliative Studies from Madonna University.  He is a Certified Medical Hypnotherapist, member of the St Vincent DePaul Society, and end of life doula.

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Director Alua Arthur is an end-of-life doula, attorney, and the founder of Going with Grace, an end of life planning organization that exists to support people as they answer the question 'What must I do to be at peace with myself so that I may live presently and die peacefully?' From private end-of-life consultations and public education about death to online coursework to train death doulas, she is tirelessly committed to bringing awareness to death and dying which she believes can inspire the way people live.  A jewelry addict, Alua is also a life enthusiast, bicycle fanatic, and developing nation aficionado. She is inspired by life, the little joys we can find even in dark times, the freedom of authenticity, and power in the word yes.

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Director Diane Button is co-founder of Marin End of Life Doula Alliance in Northern California. She has completed EOL doula training with the University of Vermont Larner School of Medicine and INELDA. Diane is the author of The Letter Box, a book about legacy that is translated into 4 languages. She holds a Master’s in counseling from Goddard College and feels privileged to volunteer with hospice for over 10 years. Her thesis, The 7 Components of a Meaningful Life, is the foundation for her EOL work. Diane is the co-founder and Director of Dream of Better World, a 501(c)3 non-profit started in 2008 to aid kids and families worldwide. Their message is “You’re never too young, or too old, to make a difference!”

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Director Karylinn Echols is an end-of-life doula and the founder of Setting Sun Doulas in Gresham, Oregon. She has extensive background in working with families and communities following violent, unforeseen, and sudden deaths. Karylinn served as the executive director for eight years of a national professional trade association of hospital hospitality houses (the Healthcare Hospitality Network).  She is very involved in her community, currently serving her fourth term as an elected city councilor and a board member for the local chamber of commerce. Karylinn also consults with nonprofit and for-profit organizations in several business development areas including strategic planning, meeting facilitation, and board development. Karylinn holds a MA in Organizational Management and a BA in Political Science. In the neverending effort to maintain balance in her life, Karylinn loves spending time with her grandchildren, traveling with her husband in their ancient RV, yoga and meditation. ​

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Director Joelle Johns has an extensive background in psychiatric and geriatric social work and case management, including experience as a patient advocate and an indigent elder guardian. She completed the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine End of Life Doula course. She holds certifications in Thanatology and Pastoral Thanatology which allow her to offer spiritual/Interfaith companioning support not only to the dying but also the family members in their many facets of grief and loss. She founded Sacred Passages, an end of life doula service in Sarasota. Joelle has also spent several years in portfolio property management which has provided her with a wealth of experience in Board operations, coordinating with myriad vendors and overseeing large capital projects. She has been a bedside/vigil/spiritual care volunteer with Tidewell Hospice since 2009 and is a passionate believer in the positive death movement. Joelle resides with her husband and three children in southwest Florida.

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Director Victoria Quinn-Stephens has over 30 years experience as a marketing and business professional including 20 years managing Intellectual Property protections and its innovations to test security for Cisco System’s global IT Certifications Program.  Victoria coordinated the first domestic “Healthy Cities and Communities” conference, co-sponsored by the World Health Organization, UC Berkeley and the Western Consortium of Public Health, and is a co-founder of the Iowa Women’s Foundation. As a trained bioenergetic practitioner and group mentor with Lifespark Cancer Resources in Colorado, she helped match energy practitioners with cancer patients for sustained treatment in medical facilities, later serving as a board member. More recently, as an INELDA trained EOL Doula and founding member of the Portland’s EOL Doula Alliance, she volunteers at a local hospice and is an EOLD business coach. Victoria holds a BFA in Graphic Design and Textile Arts from the California College of Art.

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Director Karen Reppen is the founder of Persephone’s Garden, offering education, training, and direct support around aging, illness, death and grief. She also provides guidance for home funerals and natural burials through Walking Each Other Home, and facilitates Death Cafés through the Great Circle Collaborative. She helped form Solace Home, a social-model hospice program for those experiencing homelessness. She has more than 16 years’ experience as a hospice communications professional and direct-care volunteer. Her training includes UVM's EOL Doula program from theLarner School of Medicine, Upaya’s Contemplative EOL Care program: Being with Dying, and Stephen Jenkinson's Orphan Wisdom School in Ottawa, Canada. Karen holds a Grief Support Specialist Certificate through UW-Madison.

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Director Charlene Vandiver earned her Bachelors in Psychology from Grand Canyon University and her Masters in Social Work from St. Leo University. She became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Florida where she works for a leading hospice provider in a 16-bed acute care facility. She earned her Master of Science in Palliative Care (MSPC) from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and at the same time received her Advanced Certification in Hospice and Palliative Care (ACHP-SW). She is a certified pet loss and bereavement counselor and co-founded both the Animals at Heart organization and A Guiding Light, Inc., both 501(c)3 charities. Charlene is a happily married mother of 3 and will soon have one granddaughter.

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Director Tracey Walker Tracey is a passionate death work activist in her practice as a Death Doula and End of Life Concierge after founding Let It Be, where her focus is on advance care planning, requiem celebrations, and queer EOL care. She studied animal and human medicine at Michigan State University, before working in emergency care as a medic. Tracey taught multiple disciplines for nine years in medical and nursing programs, transitioned back to in-hospital direct patient care with acute care for the elderly, as well as volunteering for Hospice organizations. She is a Celebrant with certification in thanatology and pet bereavement, hosts death cafes while often speaking publicly on death work, and graduated from the Going With Grace End Of Life Doula program. For over twenty years, she has served and chaired on numerous performing arts boards, facilitated medical clinics in East Africa and the Caribbean, and represented the United States for the WHO World AIDS Day conference.

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Staff

Membership Coordinator
​Kim Adams is responsible for managing our membership platform and directories. Kim served two years on the NEDA board after many years of experience in the death/dying field, having begun in the early 1990's as a case manager, and housing and legislative advocate for people with HIV/AIDS. She served on the National Home Funeral Alliance Board of Directors as Secretary and Events Coordinator, is a certified, professional End of Life Coach, home funeral guide, hospice volunteer, Reiki practitioner, and an Advisory Board Member of Threshold Support Circle in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Website Designer and Manager Lee Webster is a NEDA Founder and  Treasurer who has served in a leadership role and in developing websites for many other death care nonprofits, including the National Home Funeral Alliance (President), Green Burial Council (President) New Hampshire Funeral Resources, Education & Advocacy (Director), Funeral.org Partnership, Conservation Burial Alliance, Minnesota Death Collaborative, as well as many others outside the nonprofit sector. She is a published author, national speaker, and leading advocate for funeral reform, combining her career experience with hospice, conservation, and higher education development to changing end of life and after death practices to truly meet the needs of individuals, families, and communities.

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Past Board Members

Founding Directors
Patty Burgess 2018
Trudy Brown 2018
Deanna Cochran 2018
Tarron Estes 2018
Suzanne O'Brien 2018 - 19
Lee Webster 2018 - 19

Directors
Kim Adams 2019
Elizabeth Aungier 2018
​Nada Frazier 2019
Terry ​Skovronek 2018
Leann Thrapp 2019