Wind phone memorial for Return to Nature Victims installed after months of searching for location
Michael Logerwell
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – It’s been months in the making. Earlier this year, victims of the Return to Nature Funeral home told KRDO13 they were struggling to find a public space for a small memorial. Potential sites kept turning them down.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Ex-site of Return to Nature sits barren, racking up tax bills, while victims search for memorial site
This weekend was different. At an accepting site, the wind phone was installed and unveiled to the public.
It comes 24 hours after Carie Hallford was sentenced to 30 years behind bars on state criminal charges. Hopefully, the last time victims will have to relive their trauma in court.
A wind phone is an analog phone, not connected to any wires, stored in a small wooden container that gives those speaking into it a chance to talk to loved ones lost in the wind.
KRDO13 spoke to Derrick Johnson, who’s been leading the charge to get the windphone installed for his mother, who was recovered from the Return to Nature Funeral home. Johnson spoke about what it was like to make the first call on the wind phone.
“It really did feel like she heard me. And I, I know that maybe that’s something you can do in your own car or your own residence, but there was something about the phone, having it there and feeling the wind blow by as you’re talking into it and saying things that are really from the heart with no judgment. I felt like it. It was so relieving. It was so peaceful,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that this phone isn’t just for the victims of return to nature, it’s for anyone who’s lost a loved one in the wind.
The phone is located at the Concrete Couch at 1100 S Royer St in Colorado Springs.