Honoring Legacy, Holding Space: A Holiday Conversation on Grief, Family, and Community with the Calahan Family and Mrs. Barbara Deer

During a season when most homes are preparing for celebration, others are quietly preparing their hearts for a different kind of holiday — one shaped by loss, memory, and the ongoing journey of healing. In this special conversation, I sat down with two generations of the Calahan family — Mrs. Shirley Calahan, Mr. Ed Calahan, and their daughter, President Valerie Calahan Taylor — the Chicago-based family behind Calahan Funeral Homes, a longstanding pillar of comp