PERSONAL PORTRAITS

Sherokee Ilse is a nationally recognized professional consultant and speaker on bereavement issues. As a result of a miscarriage (Marama) in 1979 and the stillbirth of her first son, Brennan, in 1981 she became deeply involved in trying to improve the care of bereaved families who had a baby die in miscarriage, stillbirth or early infant death.

Sherokee currently serves on the Advisory Boards of Pen Parents Inc. and the National SHARE organization. She has recently been selected as Coordinator of the newly founded National Coalition for Positive Outcomes in Pregnancy.

Among her extensive list of written publications about bereavement following reproductive loss are Empty Arms: Coping With Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Infant Death with over 150,000 copies in print since 1982, and recent additions Precious Life, Painful Choices: A Prenatal Decision-Making Guide, and Remembering With Love: Messages of Hope After the First Year of Grieving and Beyond.

WiSSP has benefitted from Ms. Ilse=s ex-pertise in parental bereavement since her first visit to Madison in 1984 to present a seminar on the U.W. campus. She continues to be involved in our education and training efforts.

Besides loving to write and her work in the field of bereavement, Sherokee enjoys playing the piano, reading, tap dance and jazz and spending time with her family. She and her husband David live west of Minneapolis with their two sons, Kellan, 11 and Trevor, 9.