Until a short time before the end Mr. O'Donohue's symptoms were no worse than they had been for two weeks, and the members of his family had no expectation of his immediate demise. His exhausted ...

A few weeks ago, I took a field trip to the O’Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm with one of my classes. In the class, we had read a text called “The Gardener’s Year” by Karel Capek ...

which is bursting with “ersatz or substitute friendships,” O’Donohue said. Soul friends, which can range from best buddies to lovers to family members, too often get the leftovers.

In his will, O’Donohue stated he was leaving “all my worldly possessions” to his mother Josie “to be divided equally and fairly among my family with special care and extra help” to be ...