Faith Fuller Wilcox

Faith Fuller Wilcox believes that self-expression through writing leads to healing. Her writing is reflective of a growing body of medical research about “narrative identity,” which illuminates that how we make sense of what happens to us and the meaning we give to experiences beyond our control directly impact our physical and psychological outcomes. Faith learned these truths firsthand when her thirteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer that took her life. Faith’s journey from grief and despair to moments of comfort and peace taught her life-affirming lessons, which she shares today through her writing. Faith is the author of Hope Is A Bright Star: A Mother’s Memoir of Love, Loss, and Learning to Live Again that will be published in June 2021. Faith is also the author of Facing Into The Wind: A Mother’s Healing After the Death of Her Child, a book of poetry.

A longtime resident of Massachusetts, Faith leads a journal writing program at MassGeneral Hospital for Children for patients and their families designed to give participants the opportunity to express themselves, alleviate stress, celebrate victories, and honor their grief.

Twitter: @FaithFWilcox

Instagram: @Faith.Wilcox

What is your favorite nonreading activity?

My favorite activities involve being in nature. I find comfort and peace when walking along woodland trails with my three-year-old Goldendoodle dog, when walking along the shoreline and looking out to sea, when swimming or kayaking in a still lake early in the morning. Being in natural settings gives me the opportunities to slow down my pace, engage in the world around me, and revel in nature’s beauty.

Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? During COVID I picked up my knitting needles after many years and knit a heather-blue cashmere and wool sweater. I love it! I also began to needlepoint again. I’m currently needlepointing a canvas with colorful wildflowers that I will make into a pillow and give to my fourteen-year-old granddaughter. I’m also passionate about baking. In my thirties, I had a baking business named Faith’s Cakes and some of my most popular cakes included Luscious Lemon, Orange-Chocolate Bit, and Chocolate-Almond. However, the orders for my currant scones topped the list!

If you could create a museum exhibition, what would be the theme?

I would create a museum around the theme of nature and people’s interaction with it. I would focus on exhibits about indigenous peoples around the world and how they lived in harmony with their natural surroundings. I would include their cultures, beliefs, and what they held sacred. I would also include their challenges and how they found solutions to those challenges. I would include many interactive exhibits so visitors could imagine living in different indigenous cultures.

What period of history do you wish you knew more about?

I wish I knew more about the early 1800’s in America when pioneers were leaving cities, towns and farms and were crossing the country in wagon trains or sailing to a new destination like the Caribbean or Hawaii. I’d like to know what it was like to be a woman then. How did women survive the ordeals of long periods of travel? If they had children how did they care for them in difficult circumstances? How did women keep a sense of themselves as individuals or did they band together with other travelers and only thought of themselves as a part of a whole group of explorers? When they arrived in their new country or countryside how did they adjust to a life very different from what they had known? I have endless questions about this time and the people who traveled within and outside of America.

What brings you great joy?

As I mentioned above being in nature brings me joy. I also love being with children and watching them grow and explore the world. The volunteer work that I do at MassGeneral Hospital for Children brings me joy. I lead a journal writing program for parents and children. I encourage them to write in journals as a way to express feelings that are trapped inside, celebrate victories, and honor their strength in adverse circumstances. When parents or children say to me, “Thank you for my journal. I’m so glad that I started writing in my journal. It’s really helping me.” That brings me joy.