Group Will Offer Aid To Widowed Persons

Any widowed person in the greater Boston area who wishes practical information or an understanding listener can now call The Widowed Service Line- 731-0426- a 24-hour answering service offering help to the widowed.

The answering service, which will begin operating today, is an outgrowth of the Dorchester Widow-to Widow program, originally organized by Gerald Caplan, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, and Phyllis R. Silverman, Lecturer on Social Welfare, both in the Medical Department of Psychiatry.

The original program was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to the Harvard Medical School.

Three staff members of the old Widow-to-Widow program, Mrs. Faye Snider and Mrs. Dorothy MacKenzie, both of Milton, and Mrs. Betty Wilson of West Roxbury, formulated the approach of the new program, which would put helpful and available widowed persons in touch with those who are widowed and in need of help.

Snider said that help above and beyond a phone conversation might be extended.

"If a volunteer feels that a social meeting might be a good idea, that volunteer would suggest it, or maybe just a cup of coffee at the local Hayes Bickford," Snider said yesterday.

"It's a very human experience. There's nobody in back of a volunteer saying 'Handle this situation in this way,' "she added.