My heart was shattered. Following the ending of a long marriage, I thought that I had found lasting love and happiness again only to have him leave me for an elderly millionaire. Today, it sounds almost funny and a fair reversal of what happens more often to men. But when Wayne Oates asked for volunteers out of the audience to work with, I knew that my grief was as deep as those who were grieving other deaths of their lives. And that was the gift that Dr. Oates gave to me. He knew that the grief was real...and deep...and not funny.

When we worked together, it was as if there was no audience, no camera, but only Dr. Oates' eyes and presence to my pain. There was powerful healing in having the emotional wound so validated...and held by such a caring presence. That day he taught others by example while he taught me by experience. I sincerely pray that the gift he lovingly gave me that day passes at least in part through me to the lives of others. That, I believe, is how the spirit dwelling in Dr. Wayne Oates lives on.