Pahrump GriefShare schedules two Loss of a Spouse seminars

Losing a spouse can leave a Pahrump resident facing more than grief alone: a silent house, bills that still arrive, routines that suddenly stop, and a level of isolation that can hit hardest in a community where many neighbors are older and living on fixed incomes. Two Loss of a Spouse seminars at Central Valley Baptist Church are set to offer a concrete place to sit down, listen and start sorting through what comes next.

The seminars are scheduled for May 18 and May 23 at Central Valley Baptist Church, 3170 S. Blagg Road in Pahrump. Each session is built for people who have been widowed and lasts about two hours. GriefShare says the format includes a 35-minute video, time to talk with other widowed people and a booklet with more than 30 short readings to take home afterward.

Marcia Savage, who helps lead the local chapter, said the goal is to get the word out because many people do not realize how isolating this kind of loss can be. The seminar is meant to serve as both an outreach tool and an introduction to the larger GriefShare program.

That larger program has been part of the Pahrump Valley since July 2015, when Pete Giordano launched the local chapter. Giordano died in 2020, but the group continued and, by July 2024, Savage said it had helped more than 200 people coping with grief. The chapter does not meet only for occasional special events. It holds regular grief support sessions Mondays from 3 to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m., with three 13-week cycles each year.

Central Valley Baptist Church also structures its calendar around grief support. Every 14th week, it offers a public Loss of a Spouse seminar, and the 15th week is a Celebration of Life gathering where participants paint memorial rocks for loved ones. That steady schedule turns the church into more than a venue for one-off meetings; it gives widowed residents a place to return to as the practical burden of loss settles in.

The need is easy to see in the numbers. Pahrump’s population is estimated at 47,347, with a median age of 53 and 31.7% of residents age 65 or older. Nye County’s median age is 52.5, and about 14.1% of residents live below the poverty line, including 12% of seniors age 65 and older. In a county shaped by older households and financial pressure, the seminars offer a nearby, structured response for people trying to rebuild daily life after the death of a spouse.