Wind Phone in Port Ludlow

by Karen Griffith, Guest Writer

It’s almost instinctive – when you lose a loved one – to pick up the phone to call them, to hear their voice, to tell them you love and miss them. This happened to Itaru Sasaki while grieving his cousin’s death in 2010 in Japan. He purchased an old-fashioned phone booth and set it up in his garden.  He installed a rotary phone that was not connected to wires or any “earthly system.”  Here, Itaru felt a continued connection to his cousin as he talked on the Wind Phone and found comfort and healing amid his grief. Itaru gave his phone booth a name, The Wind Phone.

The following year, in 2011, a devastating earthquake (9.1 magnitude) resulted in a tsunami with 30-foot waves that obliterated the coast of Japan, destroying entire towns and villages and taking thousands of lives. Many were swept out to sea, and their bodies were never recovered. As the tsunami’s catastrophic ocean waves destroyed the town, its people were devastated by a tsunami of grief. Itaru Sasaki salvaged his phone booth and relocated it on a windy hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He welcomed mourners to visit his phone booth to make calls to their friends and relatives lost in the great tsunami, hoping they, too, would find a connection to their loved ones and cope with their grief just as he had done after his cousin’s death. 

The Wind Phone is a symbolic connection – it is an unconnected phone with no dial tone or actual services.  It provides a space for people to speak their grief, thoughts, and memories aloud to someone who has died. Visitors are invited to pick up the receiver and share the things they wish they had the chance to tell that loved one before they died, or to speak to their loved one about what’s new in their life, or whatever else they need to share from this outlet.

While The Wind Phone originated in Japan, Wind Phones have been installed in various locations worldwide such as parks, libraries, and private gardens.  There are over 500 in the United States alone.  They offer a tangible and symbolic ritual for processing grief.  Imagine being able to feel like you are connecting to a loved one who has died – imagine saying any of the number of things you wished you had said while that person was alive.  Imagine giving your loved one an “update” on how the grandchildren are doing, how you are doing in light of the loss of the loved one?  The act of speaking out loud, even to an empty phone, can bring unbelievable comfort and a sense of connection.

Where can I find one of these Wind Phones, you ask?  Right here in Port Ludlow. Some interested Port Ludlow residents have worked to have a Wind Phone here in our community.  So many of us have lost loved ones – spouses, partners, grown children, grandchildren.  Our own Port Ludlow Wind Phone will be accessible to all who would like to make this special connection.

Graciously, Port Ludlow Associates are allowing a Wind Phone to be erected on PLA property in the copse of trees at the intersection of Oak Bay Road and Paradise Bay Road, to the east of the market.  Please feel free to sit down on the bench and dial your loved one.

Many people have worked to bring this into fruition. Firstly, Diana Smeland, manager of Port Ludlow Associates; Ed Galfre, who built the “booth;” Michael Lawrence, who made the plaque near the Wind Phone; End of Life Washington, and Judy McCay and Karen Griffith, local Volunteer Client Advisers with End of Life Washington who have been working with people at the end of life for over a decade. 

The plaque reads: “This phone will never ring.  It’s connected by love to nowhere and everywhere. It is for those who have an empty place in their heart left by a loved one. Say hello, say goodbye. Talk of the past, the present, and the future. The wind will carry your message.”

Come join us on May 16, at 1 p.m., for a dedication of our new Wind Phone. For more information, contact Karen Griffith at kgriffith45@gmail.com.