Demographics show a consistent trend toward higher proportions of elderly in our society. With this increase a larger number of individuals are becoming widowed. The purpose of this study was to investigate how structured learning activities in thanatopsis are experienced by widows in later life. Thanatology is the study of the experience of the dying and bereaved. Although people in all societies have speculated about death, the systematic study of its experience is a fairly recent development. In 20th-century Western culture, until the last few decades, a taboo existed against studying death and death related issues. Purposes being served by this study include aiding participants in clarifying beliefs, feelings, and behaviors about what matters in their lives through thanatopsis. Thanatopsis is death meditation;Eight individuals participated in this study. The criteria for involvement was that they must be over fifty years old and widowed. The average age of the participants was 76 with a range from 59-85. The average length of time widowed was 16 years with a range from 4-41. The average length of time married was 38 years with a range from 3-52. None of the participants had remarried at the time of this study;This study was designed to use experiential learning activities to provide individuals with experiences that cause them to think about the losses they have suffered. Participants engaged in three structured learning exercises and activities that required experiential interactions. The first one was an icebreaker/introduction exercise, the second was an instrumental activity involving a personal inventory, and the third was an affective exercise. The phenomenological experience of the informants was sought;Debriefing discussion interviews were conducted following each of the three structured learning exercises. Follow-up debriefing discussions were conducted at one week, and one month intervals following the activities. Transcripts were made of each debriefing discussion and then analyzed. The emergent topics were as follows: reassurance, affirmation, changing attitudes, gained insight, and acknowledgment;The participants varied in their time widowed and their length of time married prior to becoming widowed. The most significant and profound changes occurred with the participants who had been widowed the longest (41 years) and the shortest (4 years) period of time;In this study several important findings were made. There was a recognition that the resolution of mourning and bereavement can be enhanced by experiential thanatopsis at various stages of the grief process. Also, in relation to the theoretical tenets of Bowenian family systems, participants became more self-differentiated as a result of their participation in the exercises. Also evidenced in the results were changes in the nuclear family emotional systems and improvements in multigenerational transmission processes.