SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—The term war widows may conjure up images of older women long married, but a group of war widows who toured San Francisco this weekend ranged in age from 20 to 41.
Some of the women were strangers until the weekend, but part of a sisterhood only they understood. They dined at restaurants, visited tourist attractions and shared Valentine’s Day memories from when their husbands were alive.
Taryn Davis was just 21 years old when her husband Cpl. Michael Davis was killed by a roadside bomb. Davis started the support group, The American Widow Project, as a way to pull herself out of her own grief. Davis also made a documentary of other widows’ stories, so that other women wouldn’t feel alone in their suffering.
The group’s outings take place around the country, and give these women a chance to relax and renew.
Nicki Bunting, widow of Capt. Brian B. Bunting, said the group helped her to feel normal again. “I feel like an outcast everywhere else I go,” she said.
Stacia Harris, widow of Cpl. Larry Harris, Jr., said it was important for her to find people who understood why she still wants to wear her wedding ring, even though her husband’s gone.
“We were only married two and a half years, so it’s not the marriage I was hoping for,” Harris said. “I want to hold that close to my heart and I feel I will forever be married to him.”
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