Instead of denying it, she embraced it. Her initiative surprised people in the area, catapulting her to heroine status in the eyes of many. But according to experts in death, dying and grief, people who knew Tobie should have expected her reaction. She teaches a course on death and dying. Facing death, she reacted the same way, doing all she could to prepare.
Young people tend to deny they're dying, experts agree.
Even though Tobie was unable to finish much of what she planned, the fact that she even thought of those things will help people, Corless said. Allowing the dying to die the way they want, and openly talk about it, is a relatively new phenomenon. People wouldn't talk about it. Now they do. The Redmon Grief Resource Center in Stow offers residents a place to talk, not just about Tobie's death, but also about the deaths of others.