Nebraskan started selling 'grief cards' after a string of crushing tragedies. They're resonating with grievers.

Angie Hanson started the morning the same as every other work day. She took her 1-year-old son, Garret, to day care, gave him a kiss and a hug, told him she'd see him later that day, then headed to work.

Hours later came a phone call delivering every parent's worst nightmare. Garret wouldn't wake up from his nap.

Garret's death on June 27, 2006, was the first of a trio of tragedies that would upend life for Hanson and her family. Her son died, then her husband, then her brother. The small burgeoning family in Waterloo was down to Angie and her then-7-year-old daughter, Gracie.

"It was the dark...