With the first hint of early spring, my writing group hustled to make our dream of building our own Wind Phone at the independent senior-living center where I worked a reality. Kay Cox took the lead: She designed the sketch for our proposed Wind Phone, she purchased a vintage phone online, and she even found us our builder—another resident, Betty Gale, who loved the idea and agreed to use her impressive wood-working skills to do the physical build for our project.
In quick recap, the Wind Phone first appeared in Japan in 2010, when Itaru Sasaki created it to help him cope with his cousin’s death, but now? There are over 460 Wind Phones, internationally. Still, most have never heard of them and will ask, “What is a Wind Phone?” It is an unconnected telephone where visitors can go to hold one-way conversations with deceased loved ones. Wind Phones are places where you can meditate on life and loss because, sometimes, you just need a way to express those thoughts and feelings. –Last year, I introduced the Wind Phone concept to the authors in the writing group I dubbed, The Write Stuff, and we vowed that we would have our own Wind Phone site, which became a reality on March 12, 2026. This article captures that process.
I spoke to Betty Gale about the Wind Phone construction.
How long did the Wind Phone build take?
BETTY: It took approximately six weeks to construct, when I worked about five hours per day on the days I could work on it. Roughly, that equals a little over 200 hours. [Betty works in her single-car garage, and it was winter. But she was so committed to helping us reach our deadline that she bought an outdoor heater so she could work outside in inclement weather.] I made it high and wide enough that those in wheelchairs can access it, and I woodburned the name on it last, before adding the wheels for easy transport.
Describe your process for the build, including the materials you used.
BETTY: I usually build things in my mind. Then, I put a drawing on paper with all the measurements. For the Wind Phone box, I only put the outside measurements on paper. After that I decided how to construct it as I was building it—sort of “freestyle,” if you will. I had not done a pitched roof before, so that was my biggest challenge. I wanted the pitch to be perfect for the angel-wing-shaped top. I “winged” it, and I thought it turned out to be just right!! I used cedar wood because it works really well for outdoor projects. It also looks good when left “natural” and the wood is sealed. The top needed to resemble angel wings so the whitewash–Kay’s finishing touch–was great. We had wanted the wings out back, but the design wasn’t stable. So I carved wingtips on each piece of the roof, which lays flat.
How long have you worked with wood? Where did you learn?
BETTY: I have been building things off and on for 45 years. I am self-taught with the aid of books and woodworking magazines. It takes a lot of expensive tools to build complicated things. So, I do more simple projects with the tools I could bring with me to Ledgestone, where we live now. [Above: Betty’s workshop is incredibly organized, and everything tucks in so that they can still get a car in there, lol!]
What are your favorite builds–or which things have made you the most proud?
BETTY: I planned and built a large deck next to the length of the pool for friends. One of the friends helped with the project so I was not working alone. I had built a smaller deck at our home before we moved to Ledgestone. You would need to see pictures of them to see how good they looked when finished. I have built several things for friends that they are pleased with, and that brings me great joy. Of course, the Wind Phone project is something I am most proud of because it is for a community who can really enjoy it. I guess I could say I’m proud of all the things I have made because they mean that I accomplished what I set out to do.
–We are indebted to Betty Gale, not only for her craft in taking our Wind Phone from a “concept” to a “concrete reality,” but also because she donated her time and all the materials. So the Wind Phone Project cost us nothing! It really does “take a village”! And it was a pleasure to unveil the Wind Phone at our Dedication & Installation Ceremony to the community on March 12, 2026, where we had a “standing room only” crowd by the time the festivities began.
Grief is a metric that marks the rise and fall of our emotions over loss, and it stands to reason that as much as we love is as much as we stand to lose. Finally then, to wrap up the news on our finished Wind Phone Project, several members of The Write Stuff and I composed new Wind Phone entries, which follow, and the writing group even garnered a few, new writers after this event!
GLASS ANGEL
by Kathleen Johnson
Dear L.,
I am using a wind phone to call you, even though you are still here living on this earth.
I feel more comfortable now that H. and I delivered the angel last weekend. That beautiful glass angel has quite a reputation for healing cancer.
Remember that K.’s J. had stage four cancer, but since she got the angel, he has been cancer-free for 5 years! Next was Joe; his cancer was at a standstill last I heard.
The saddest thing was that P.’s husband was diagnosed and died so suddenly that they never got the angel. When my guy was diagnosed with cancer, I took the angel, and my guy is, currently, just being watched.
Now, you are the one in need—and you have the angel. I hope with all my heart that she is real, and you fill out again from being just skin and bones and seeming to be disappearing before my eyes. May your lungs clear and your energy return soon.
In my heart, I gave up a little when we visited… you’re just a shadow of my old partner and friend! But you’re going to come back and thrive again with all the love and support you can gather from the wind, nature, and the medical community–plus the good wishes coming from everyone and everywhere.
Love, Kat
THAT SPECIAL GOWN
by Dee Rose Karp
Hi Grammy,
It’s Cookie, calling you on that wind phone that I told you about a while ago. Remember, I told you about the wonderful memories I have about our walks to the “back 40” to pick raspberries! Well today I was taking a walk and passed a lady wearing a T-shirt that said BRIDE. All of a sudden, another special memory came rushing back to me! This time I didn’t have far to go before I could talk to you; the special phone where the wind carries my words directly to you! That’s because our writer’s club had our very own Wind Phone built and installed here at the senior facility where I live now! So, I’ll be able to talk to you so much more often!
Okay, back to my special memory about the bride… When Alan and I got engaged, you and mom were so excited to have a wedding to plan! Grammy, you always told me you wanted a little girl, but you couldn’t have any more kids after Daddy was born, so you and grandpa were so happy to have a little granddaughter. Anyway, since I was still in college, my senior year – getting ready for exams and graduation, you and mom took over all the wedding preparations. I would come home on weekends and we 3 would look over the options and make the final decisions. But the choice of my gown was totally up to me!
The gown! Remember how you and I poured through bridal magazines and cut out tons of pictures of dresses we loved, and then we pasted them into a notebook. I worried about how I could possibly decide on just one! When mom said that we were going to Detroit to look for a gown, you were as excited as I was! We went to Hudson’s department store—the nicest store in town. They had a beautiful, very fancy, bridal salon. When we arrived for our appointment, we were ushered into this elegant showroom. Our shoes sunk into the plush shag carpet, and we were guided to these big, beautiful barrel chairs. You and mom got to settle into the chairs and drink champagne, while they took me back to the dressing room to begin trying on gowns. The first one that they brought in absolutely took my breath away. It was as if all the stars lined up and sent that gown to me. It was the one! When I came out to show you and mom, your eyes sparkled and you were grinning ear to ear just like I was! You and I knew we had found the right one!
But Mother thought differently, of course. “How can you pick the very first one that you try on? Let’s see some other styles to see which one suits you the best.” So, of course, I tried on about 10 other gowns, until I was exhausted, but I knew that first one was the one for me. But I had the sinking feeling now that it was going to be too expensive. We had set a budget of $500 for the gown and veil. None of the gowns had any tags on them, and you had to ask how much it was. I was already totally in love with the gown and was almost afraid to ask because it just looked so special and spectacular and the fabric and the lace and tiny satin buttons all the way up the back and the pearls scattered around the long train—just everything was perfect. When we asked the saleslady the price, she told us, and the three of us just fell back in our chairs. It was way out of our price range. We tried to get more information like who made the gown or any other pertinent details, but we couldn’t. The salesladies were pleasant but noncommittal.
So, we left without ordering anything. I was devastated! But then, I remembered that Alan’s Uncle Milt, who owned a beautiful Ladies Shop nearby, told me that if I could get him the information about the gown, his buyers in New York could get it for me wholesale!
So, you and I went back to every bridal magazine and looked through them again and again to see if we could even find a picture of it, but no luck. I went back to school deflated. I didn’t know what to do. One day, a couple of weeks later, while waiting in the checkout line in the grocery store, I started paging through the latest issue of Modern Bride I had picked up from the adjacent rack. And, all of a sudden, I saw the dress! There it was! Looking as beautiful as I remembered! Of course, the picture had no identifying information on it either—just the picture and where the gown could be found in New York City. But I cut out the picture and sent it to Uncle Milt. I think I kept my fingers crossed and held my breath for at least two weeks, until I got a call and he told me they had found the dress! You and I were jumping up and down when we got that news. We just couldn’t contain our excitement, until we found out that the wholesale cost of the gown was $800, which was still more than the $400 we had budgeted for the gown. I was devastated, but you had that little twinkle in your eye, and you gathered me in your arms and said that you were going to buy the gown for me! You knew and understood how special that gown was to me! You spent your monthly pension, all $815 of it!, on the gown you knew I wanted!
Grammy, even though the marriage has long been over, I still have my wedding portrait hanging in my bedroom because I still adore that dress, and how I looked and felt on my special day! I spilled champagne all down the front of it at the wedding reception, and I didn’t have it cleaned and preserved right away, so it hung in the closet in the garment bag for years. Then, my two daughters discovered it, and they started playing dress up in it. They loved it. They had more fun wearing the dress and making up their own stories. And, after they lost interest in that (one of them becoming interested in boys and the other one in horseback riding), I donated it to the little regional theater I worked with, where it had many other lives and was made into many different styles! I will always cherish the memory of our special gown!
Well Grammy, I better say goodbye for now, but I’ll call you again soon.
LETTER TO DR. LULU
by Kay Cox
[In Memory of Lucia Cappachione]
Lulu! It’s Togy here! I’m still in shock four years later. I don’t want to believe it! What the fuck, Lucia? Suicide! You hung yourself in your living room with a sheet wrapped around your neck! How desperate you must have been!
You, of all people! Author of 15 books! The Queen of Creativity! Known throughout the world for your healing journals for all ages. You saved lives but not your own? What happened?
I’m sad, angry, and still trying to make sense of this. And I feel guilty too! How could I have missed your clues? In your last letter, you had said you had been feeling a little down. This was just before your birthday. Was that it then? Getting old?
Your daughter said you hadn’t been writing. What was that about? Had you run out of things to say? Did you feel you had squeezed the last drop out of Creative Journaling? And damn it, were you not taking your own medicine? I know after your fall on the bus, you were left with some physical limitations but seemed to still be actively getting around with a cane.
Did you consider a memoir? It would have made great story. But now, I’m left with a legacy of exciting adventures and hilarious memories with you. What an experience it was to travel Italy with you, your mom and aunt, visiting relatives in Rome and the village near the coast. And of course, your gorgeous Italian lover, Gian Franco Mai, artist and printmaker in Albarabello, home of the trulies. It was so much fun having the two of you visit us later in Houston.
Thank you for believing in me, for opening doors I never thought possible, and for trusting me to carry on your work. I’m so grateful.
Rest in peace, love you,
Togy
DEAREST SWEETHEART
by Joan Hallmark
How I miss you! You have been gone from my life for six, long years.
How could I have lived this long without you?
From the time we had our first date, both of us only 16 and students at Athens High School, you have been my soulmate and the love of my life. It didn’t matter that you were the school’s star fullback, although it was fun cheering you from the sideline. Your sweet smile, deep sensitivity, and innate intelligence were more appealing to me than any plays on the football field.
Over 70 years passed from that first date, most of the time with happiness in friends and family, trips throughout the world, and successes in our careers. Even the losses of our first granddaughter and, later, our first son, could not tear us apart. We shared our grief and continued to build our marriage.
But now, my love? Even the most gourmet food isn’t as savory without you, music is not melodic, and even movies, plays, and TV are not as meaningful without you sharing them.
My days are without the excitement of the past now, but when I do experience something interesting and I rush home to tell you about it, you are not here.
Perhaps this Wind Phone is a way to carry my thoughts into the sky where, once again, we can share everything as we once did. Love, Your Joan.
THE VISIT
by Rita Anderson
In the middle of the night
In the middle of my grief
You visited in a dream:
You were whole and strong
with a laugh that rolled like
lightning—which always
spelled mischief, like the time
I was home from college, and
you told me to get the door:
It’s for you! but it was a traveling
preacher on a mission to convert
me. Yes, your eyes were full of light,
the way they always looked
when you were about to tell
a joke that would make us cringe,
the way I love to remember you.
But, in the dream, we were celebrating
your life, and you walked me through your
summer garden that overflowed with
those bright-red tomatoes you grew
that were as robust as big onions and
they burst with the taste of the sun
when you bit into them.
I do not know what we talked about,
and you didn’t stay long
but, in the morning, I woke
feeling happy and full of love,
bathed in relief and peace.
Thank you for that gift, and for
the assurance that we will meet again
in that perfected place, when
we will laugh together again.
Until then, Dad.
Until then.
Authors’ BIOS, in order of their appearance in the article:
Kathleen Johnson is a very active 81-year-old widow with a couple of Masters’ degrees, followed by decades of teaching and education leadership. She is currently working on improving her writing and singing skills, in addition to writing her family story.
Dee Rose Karp’s love of writing began in grade school, when she won first prize with her contest entry, “My Life is Rosey.” Throughout her 87 years, she has continued writing short stories about life as she knows and has experienced it.
89-year-old Kay Cox, a published poet and visual artist, is a retired therapist and teacher of everything from three-year-olds to graduate students here and in Australia. She loves to play with paint and words, and she loves anything chocolate but hates panty hose.
Rita Anderson has an MFA Creative Writing and an MA Playwriting. She served as Dramatists Guild Regional Representative and as Faculty for Interlochen. She went on scholarship to The O’Neill, and she won the Ken Ludwig Playwriting Award (Kennedy Center. “Best Body of Work”). Early Liberty, Final Conversations, The 27 Club, Woman Hollering Creek, and Saint Somebody are “Best Selling Plays,” and Rita has a play in She Persisted: Thirty New Ten-Minute Plays by Women 40+. (Introduction, Theresa Rebeck.) Rita has had 100 productions and publications to include Smith & Kraus’s BEST NEW 10-MINUTE PLAYS and BEST MONOLOGUES (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026). Rita was a pilot playwright for Hyde Park Theatre Writers’ Group, but the highlight of her career so far was sitting on a playwriting panel with Christopher Durang, and sharing a playbill with Caridad Svich.