Turning Grief Into Hope: Carleen Hennenfent’s Story Behind Incomplete
After spending more than 22 years working in a funeral home, Carleen has walked alongside grief firsthand. She has made grief visits to more than 3,000 families, listening to their stories, their pain, and their paths forward after unimaginable loss.
Carleen explains why she felt called to write Incomplete even though many books on grief already exist. Her book preserves true, deeply moving stories that might otherwise be lost to time. Names are changed to protect privacy, but the emotions and experiences are real. Alongside these stories, Carleen shares clear and practical coping mechanisms designed to help people survive the hardest moments of loss and slowly re-enter life.
Incomplete is written not only for those grieving today, but for future generations. Carleen hopes that one day, someone facing devastating loss will pull this book off a dusty shelf and find comfort, strength, and hope. This Made Local feature highlights a North Dakota author whose life’s work is helping others heal when life feels broken beyond repair.
