Join local author Alice Aldric Hildebrand for a discussion about her new memoir, A Matter of Life and Death. 

A memoir of caregiving for the author’s elderly father in his last years, this book is also about the loss of a beloved career as a hospital chaplain and a reflection on the many “deaths” experienced throughout life. Family dysfunction and fierce love, recovery from addiction, regret and guilt, thanksgiving and hopefulness are woven through the saga of accompanying an infuriating, deeply loved parent to his death.

The timeline of this memoir intersects with the beginning of the COVID pandemic, which made everything more complicated. Because the author is a pastoral theologian and preacher, biblical reflection is woven into the narrative, as well as reflections on mortality from other sources. Throughout, the author probes deeply into the realities of her own aging and death, providing insights that will be helpful to thoughtful readers of all ages as well as to other caregivers.

Alice Aldrich Hildebrand grew up in New York, and now lives in Maine.

She has received numerous awards for her poetry, and her stories and poetry have appeared in "Killick Stones", a collection of Maine island writing; and "Puckerbrush Review." A chapbook of her poems, "Re-Membering," was published by Finishing Line Press in 2022.

She graduated from Bangor Theological Seminary with a Master’s of Divinity. In addition to having served as pastor for three United Church of Christ churches, she has been a Board-Certified Chaplain who has worked in several Maine hospitals, in home-based medical hospice and palliative care, and as a Pediatric Chaplain. She has published research in the Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy, and contributed to two anthologies of chaplaincy research.