Death Café in Whispering Pines and a Harold and Maude Mortality Movie Matinee in Southern Pines offer two unusual ways to talk about life, death and everything in between
WHISPERING PINES/SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – Death may not be everyone’s favorite conversation starter, but Gail Rubin has spent more than 16 years demonstrating that talking about mortality can be fascinating, helpful and even fun.
Rubin, a Certified Thanatologist known as The Doyenne of Death®, is coming to the Pinehurst area in October and bringing two opportunities for local residents to have conversations about a subject everyone eventually faces.
On Friday, October 23, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., Rubin will facilitate a Death Café at the Whispering Pines Community Building, 1320 Rays Bridge Road in Whispering Pines. The event is free and open to the public.
The following day, Saturday, October 24 at 1:00 p.m., Rubin will host a Mortality Movie Matinee featuring the classic 1971 film Harold and Maude at the Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad Street in Southern Pines. Tickets are $12.50.
Rubin, who is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will be in North Carolina to attend the National Funeral Directors Association convention in Charlotte. She is coming to the Pinehurst area early at the invitation of friend and fellow National Speakers Association member Doug Lynam, a financial planner, speaker and author who lives in Pinehurst.
Coffee, Cake and Conversation About Mortality
Rubin was one of the first people in the United States to hold a Death Café in 2012. The international Death Café movement began in London in 2011, inspired by the Café Mortel gatherings created by Swiss sociologist Bernard Crettaz.
At a Death Café, people gather over coffee, tea and cake or cookies to talk openly about death and mortality. There is no agenda or predetermined list of topics. The conversation is shaped by the people who attend.
“A Death Café isn’t grief counseling or a support group,” Rubin said. “It simply gives people a welcoming place to talk about something that affects every one of us. And yes, there’s often laughter.”
The objective of the international Death Café movement is “to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.”
Mortality Goes to the Movies
On Saturday, Rubin takes the conversation to the big screen with a showing of Hal Ashby’s beloved dark comedy Harold and Maude, starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort.
The film follows Harold, a young man fascinated with death and funerals, and Maude, a spirited 79-year-old woman who embraces life with gusto. Their unlikely friendship provides plenty to discuss about mortality, aging, relationships, freedom and what it means to live fully.
Following the film, Rubin will lead an informal audience conversation about its themes.
“Movies give us a wonderfully comfortable way to start conversations about subjects we might otherwise avoid,” Rubin said. “It’s much easier to begin by talking about characters on a movie screen than by talking about ourselves.”
Rubin is the author of the new book 98.6 Mortality Movies to See Before You Die: Remarkable Films and TV Shows to Discuss Death and Plan Ahead. She also hosts the Mortality Movies television series and The Doyenne of Death podcast and is a two-time TEDxABQ speaker.
Her approach to death education is summed up by one of her favorite lines: “Talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, and talking about funerals won’t make you dead.”
EVENT DETAILS
Death Café in Whispering Pines
Friday, October 23, 2026
3:00–5:00 p.m.
Whispering Pines Community Building
1320 Rays Bridge Road, Whispering Pines, NC
Free and open to the public
For information:
John Bowman: 910-258-1474 | jrbowman1947@gmail.com
Jay Emery: 802-591-0622 | jaylemery@gmail.com
Gail Rubin: 505-363-7514 | Gail@agoodgoodbye.com
Mortality Movie Matinee: Harold and Maude
Saturday, October 24, 2026
1:00 p.m.
Sunrise Theater
250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC
Tickets: $12.50
Tickets are available through the Sunrise Theater online ticketing system.
ABOUT GAIL RUBIN
Gail Rubin, CT, is a Certified Thanatologist, author, speaker and pioneering death educator who uses humor, film and television to get conversations started about mortality, grief, funerals and end-of-life planning. Known as The Doyenne of Death®, she was one of the first people to hold a Death Café in the United States. Her latest book is 98.6 Mortality Movies to See Before You Die: Remarkable Films and TV Shows to Discuss Death and Plan Ahead. Learn more at AGoodGoodbye.com.