Will we know our loved ones in heaven?

This is a very interesting question because it highlights some misconceptions on both sides. Her husband's belief is common and usually stems from a misunderstanding of Christ's teaching that we will not marry or marry in the resurrection (Matthew 22:30; Mark 12:25), but we will be like angels in heaven .

A clean slate? Not so fast
This does not mean, however, that we enter Heaven with a "clean slate". We will still be the people who were on earth, purified of all our sins and forever enjoying the beatific vision (the vision of God). We will keep our memories of our life. None of us are truly "individual" here on earth. Our family and friends are an important part of who we are as a person and remain in a relationship in Heaven with everyone we have known during our lives.

As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes in its entry into Heaven, the souls blessed in Paradise "delight greatly in the company of Christ, angels and saints, and in meeting with so many who were dear to them on earth".

The communion of saints
The Church's teaching on the communion of saints clarifies this. The saints in heaven; the suffering souls of Purgatory; and those of us still here on earth all know each other as people, not as nameless and faceless individuals. If we were to make a "new beginning" in Paradise, our personal relationship with, for example, Mary, the Mother of God, would be impossible. Let us pray for our relatives who have died and suffer in Purgatory in the full certainty that, once they enter Heaven, they will also intercede for us before the Throne of God.

Heaven is more than a new land
However, none of this implies that life in Heaven is simply another version of life on earth, and it is here that both husband and wife can share a misunderstanding. His belief in a "new beginning" seems to imply that we are starting to build new relationships, while his belief that "our friends and families are waiting to welcome us into our new life", although it is not in itself wrong, may to suggest that you think that our relationships will continue to grow and change and that we will live as families in heaven in some way analogous to how we live as families on earth.

But in Heaven, our attention is not directed to other people, but to God. Yes, we continue to know each other, but now we know each other completely in our mutual vision of God. Absorbed in the beatific vision, we are still the people who were on earth, and therefore we added joy in knowing that those we loved shared that vision with us.

And of course, in our desire for others to be able to share the beatific vision, we will continue to intercede for those we knew who are still struggling in Purgatory and on earth.