Joanne M. Steen

I am the widow of a United States Naval Aviator.

It was not an identity I sought nor a lifestyle I chose.

Once I had it all: A happy marriage, a challenging career, and a bright future of children and family. But fate intervened one Father’s Day weekend, when my young husband was killed in the line of duty.

I buried LT Ken Steen, USN, with full military honors, returning to my empty house, with only a folded American flag and the memories of a love and a life I cherished.

I felt like a foreigner in my own world.

Searching for a book to make sense of it all, and I found several on how to cope with the loss of my pet, but none that spoke to surviving the death of my military husband. I struggled in my new existence, feeling alone and misunderstood.

Time passed.

I gave up my engineering career, and earned a masters degree in counseling. My heart was drawn to help other military widows, who now fill the shoes I wore. While responding to a mass-casualty military disaster in my home town, I met Regina Asaro, another crisis responder. In the midst of tragedy, we agreed to write a book on military loss. The spark for Military Widow: A Survival Guide was ignited.

The United States Naval Institute published Military Widow: A Survival Guide in 2006, and the Department of Defense now gives a copy to all new military widows in their casualty assistance package.

Regina and I did a good thing.

Professional Biography:  Joanne M. Steen, MS, NCC

Joanne Steen is the co-author of  Military Widow: A Survival Guide (Naval Institute Press, 2006), honored as the 2007 Distinguished Author of the Year by the US Naval Institute.

Joanne is the founder of Grief Solutions, LLC, and has trained over 6000  military and civilian personnel on the best ways to respond to the families of America’s fallen warriors.  A naval aviator’s widow and former military instructor, she is an expert on the military, its culture, and the unique issues military service presents.  Joanne is also a nationally certified counselor, (NCC), with a  focus on traumatic loss, especially line-of-duty deaths.

Presently, Joanne is the co-chair of the Auxiliary Member Advisory Committee of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA); a founding Board member of the Military Spouse and Family Legacy Association, Inc. (MilSFLA), and a founding Board member of Young Widows and Widowers, Inc. (YWOW).

Prior to becoming a counselor, Joanne had twenty years of experience in engineering, leadership, and strategic planning with two Fortune 50 companies and the Department of the Navy. In the corporate sector, Joanne held engineering and management positions with General Motors and Johnson & Johnson. A senior instructor and strategic planning facilitator with the Department of the Navy, Joanne worked with senior leaders of the US Navy, the US Marine Corps, Britain’s Royal Navy and other allied military leaders. For her dedicated service, she was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.

Joanne holds a MS in Counseling from Old Dominion University and a BS in Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering from Rutgers University.  She was honored as a 2009 Darden College of Education Fellow at Old Dominion University for her contributions to the counseling profession.

Joanne is currently working on MILITARY PARENTS: We Regret to Inform You, a survival guide for parents who have lost a son or daughter in military service.

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