STARK COUNTY, OHIO — Over the past few years, many have lost a loved one unexpectedly. 

What You Need To Know

  • The wind phone is in Quail Hollow Park in Stark County

  • It is a disconnected phone meant to carry a message to a loved one who has passed

  • The family designed and built the small wooden structure with the help of Stark Parks

Daria Sherman knows the pain of losing a loved one all too well. She lost her 19-year-old son in a tragic workplace accident in 2012, and lost her son-in-law less than a year ago. 

While researching the grieving process, she came across the idea for a wind phone, which is a disconnected phone in a telephone booth that "carries" messages "to the wind."

“It’s built in an open concept and it’s for people to talk to their crossed over loved ones,” Sherman said. "For me, coming out to nature, in its beautiful splendor, is a place where I connect and feel closer to them. The wind phone creates an access point for me to have those conversations.” 

With the help of her son-in-law, Matt Frey, who built the booth and Stark Parks, the wind phone is now standing at Quail Hollow Park in Hartville. 

“To actually have it out here so that other people can visit it and grieve properly, because of something that I did, was a nice emotion to come across,” Frey said. 

Sherman spent a lot of time with her children at Quail Hollow Park, so she felt it was fitting that the wind phone would find a home there. 

She hopes other families will be able to use the disconnected phone as a tool for coping. 

“When you are on a bereavement journey, you can’t just force healing, but when it is ready and you are ready for healing, signs will show up,” she said. “This is definitely a sign."