Embracing Change: Darlene Hines Shares Her Journey of Growth, Resilience, and Giving Back

Navigating life after the loss of a loved one is one of the most challenging journeys. And for those who lose a spouse who had managed the complexities of household and business finances, this challenge can feel even more daunting.

Three years ago, Darlene Hines was suddenly thrust into a position where she had to oversee the financial affairs her husband once handled, leading her through an intense period of learning and growth.

In the following interview, Darlene reflects on the steps she took to understand and gain control over her estate, the lessons she wishes she had learned sooner, and how she’s emerged stronger, more independent, and still deeply committed to supporting causes like biomedical research at Gladstone Institutes. Through it all, the support of friends—including Gladstone President Deepak Srivastava, MD—and her passion for advancing research to improve human health have played a pivotal role in Darlene’s journey forward.

How Has Your Life Changed in the past Few Years?

It will be three years this August since my husband passed. My husband was smart and successful in business and managed that part of our life. We were married for 30 years and I primarily looked after our personal affairs, leaving all money and business matters in his hands. When he passed, I had a quick and steep learning curve and had to take on new and entirely different sets of responsibilities. I always had the belief that I could rise to whatever challenges came my way and this new role was no different. In the past few years, I have undertaken financial responsibilities successfully as an independent woman.

What Steps Did You Take to Gain Understanding and Control over Your Financial and Legal Affairs?

The first step was to learn—comb through the files and educate myself on all parts of my financial life. This proved challenging because there were a lot of different moving parts and pieces to my husband’s businesses and he worked with many different people. My next step was to create my own team, each member an expert in their own field with a willingness to work closely with me and our colleagues. I hired an excellent attorney who had access to a wonderful team of smart people. I reached out to financial experts for advice and tapped into my own social circle to ask questions and learn how they might navigate the situation. Today my team works seamlessly–my attorney is available to answer legal matters and my financial experts keep me on track.

“If we are to leave our world a better place to our children, we all need to give what we can.”

Darlene Hines

Based on Your Recent Experience, Would You Have Done Anything Differently Before Your Husband Passed?

Honestly, I wish I had a list of all of his online usernames and passwords! I wish he gave me authorization to act on our behalf with all of our banking and credit card institutions before he passed. I would have loved to have built this team of people with him while he was alive and we could have done it together. It was hard to go from knowing nothing to immediately needing to know and act on everything alone.

You Have Been Supporting Gladstone for Almost 10 Years. Why?

None of us goes through life without a loved one suffering from illness. My mother passed from cancer when she was quite young. My father was infected with HIV from a blood transfusion, ultimately dying from AIDS at a young age. I see Gladstone’s research as incredibly beneficial work as you are tackling some of the most serious problems in human health. I am happy to support that research!

Can You Tell Us About Your Friendship with Deepak?

Deepak is my next-door neighbor and my friendship with him, his late wife, and his family is one that I have grown to love and cherish. Deepak is a wonderful friend and always supported me and was available to answer questions during my husband’s lengthy illness. I respect his intelligence and find his integrity to be like none other. He is a brilliant man doing brilliant work and I am honored to call him my friend.

What Are You Hoping Gladstone Will Be Able to Accomplish?

Gladstone sets the bar in research: disrupting how science is done and funding big ideas. I hope that Gladstone is able to accomplish everything it sets out to do. Our world will be a better, healthier place because of its important work.

Do You Have Any Advice for People Who Are Giving to Gladstone or Other Organizations?

This level of research takes funding and if we are to leave our world a better place to our children, we all need to give what we can.

Learn more about giving to Gladstone.