Adena Santiago is the President, Chairperson and one of the Founders of Widowed in Montgomery County. Adena is an alcoholic beverage regulatory law attorney with the law firm of Foster Garvey, PC in Washington DC. Adena has been a widow since 2014 when her husband Ralph died of brain cancer. She is a mom of one son and two daughters living in Rockville, MD. In her free time Adena enjoys relaxing in her hammock with a book, hanging out with her kids and friends and vacations on the beach.

Jeannie Bartlett is the Executive Director, Social Chair and one of the Founders of Widowed in Montgomery County. Jeannie runs a home daycare program from her home. Jeannie has been a widow since 2017 when her husband Keith died from lung cancer. She has three grown sons and 7 wonderful grandchildren and is often heard saying the dance floor is her happy place.

Amy Estrain is the Secretary and a board member of Widowed in Montgomery County. Amy is an English Language Development teacher for Montgomery County Public Schools and resides in Olney, MD. Amy has been a widow since January of 2016 when her husband Ronnie died from leukemia. She is a mom of three grown children, all married with amazing spouses, and a grandmother of 4. In her free time Amy enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, and listening to music.

Jane Smith is the Treasurer and a founding member of Widowed in Montgomery County. She lost her husband Jeff to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Currently retired, she started her career as an electrical engineer and then transitioned into the field of business. Her most recent position was Chief Financial Officer of a medical services company. Jane lives in Silver Spring,MD. She volunteers with the stage company of a local high school and with Maryland Responds Medical Reserve Corps. She enjoys traveling, gardening and spending time with her children.

Karen Finkel is the creative director of Widowed in Montgomery County. She enjoyed a 30-year career as a graphic designer for both profit and non-profit sectors. In her second career, Karen has been employed by the Montgomery County Public School System, specifically working with students who have learning differences. Karen’s husband, Hal Kowenski passed away in 2020 from complications of ALS. She has 2 grown sons and 2 dogs.

Ira is a retired Geographic Information Specialist/meteorologist last working at the National Weather Service (NWS) where he created and maintained the map backgrounds used by NWS forecasters throughout the country. In addition he upgraded the original maps to higher resolution and initialized a program to make weather data available as GIS web services. Before the NWS he was a contractor for various federal agencies programming weather display and analysis programs software applications. Ira is a widower who lost his wife in early January 2020 and has an adult daughter living in the area.