Renfrew – A wind phone has been established on the grounds at Hospice Renfrew, set in a wooden structure built by Rick Moss of Cobden and located in a beautifully landscaped flower garden.
The idea came about one day when Hospice office administrator Kim Fraser asked Executive Director Marjorie Joly if she had ever heard of a wind phone. Admitting she knew nothing about it, she researched it and immediately felt it would be a great addition to Hospice Renfrew.
Simply put, a wind phone is a rotary or push-button phone located in a secluded spot in nature, usually within a booth-type structure and often next to a chair or bench. The phone line is disconnected.
People use the wind phone to “call” and have a one-way conversation with deceased loved ones. Here they can say the things left unsaid. Wind phones offer a setting for the person to tell the story of their grief, to reminiscence and to continue to connect to the person who is gone. For many, it is a deeply moving, life-affirming experience.
Ms. Joly said the wind phone idea originated in Japan in 2010 when Itaru Sasaki, a garden designer, built a phone booth in his back yard so he could “talk” with deceased relatives. Months later, the Fukishima earthquake and tsunami hit and in a matter of minutes, more than 20,000 people died.
Sasaki opened the phone booth to his neighbours, who urgently needed a place to express their grief. Word spread, and soon people came on pilgrimages from around Japan to speak through the “phone of the wind” to those they loved.
“So he created this phone that isn’t connected to anything, but that he could go and say good night or I love you, or just have a conversation with his cousin who he never had a chance to say good-bye to,” Ms. Joly said. “Then they began popping up all over the world, all across Ontario and Canada and so we decided it would be a great addition to Hospice Renfrew.”
She said the wind phone can be used for people with any kind of grief in their lives – the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, the loss of anything near and dear to them.
“It’s just a way for them to express their thoughts,” she said. “It’s a way of grieving; it’s a bit of closure. It’s just that concept for people to come and pick up a phone like you are actually talking to somebody.
“We have the wind chimes there, a phone on the wall. It’s open to the community,” she said. “It’s accessible for anyone in a wheelchair. It’s for our residents here, not so much maybe for our residents, but perhaps one of them might want to, if they are able to, go and say good-bye to someone. It’s for the families.”
She said it provides a safe space in a tranquil environment for people who are dealing with some form of grief or looking to use the wind phone for what it is designed to be used for.
“It’s a way of giving back to the community; it’s a way of providing another source of working through their grief for our family members upstairs.”
The wind phone at Hospice Renfrew was officially ready for use on July 22 and in the first few days it was used by a resident from nearby Quail Creek, as well as staff and volunteers at Hospice Renfrew.
Ms. Joly feels the wind phone is a great way for Hospice to give back to the community.
Staff posted a video on Facebook and after two days more than 14,000 people had viewed it.
“It’s just another way of us showing what we do here and care for everyone in the community and not just people who come to Hospice,” she said.
An old-style phone was donated by Peggy Puliz
There are a couple of plaques in the wind phone shelter. One above the phone reads:
Whispers on the Wind
Speak your heart, though no one replies
The wind will carry your words to the skies,
Love does not end with a final breath –
It lingers beyond the hands of death.
Pick up the phone, take all the time you need,
For memory listens and hearts are freed.
Say what you wish or just be still –
The wind will listen and so will they still.
A Place For Love To Continue
Another plaque tells the history of the wind phone. Part of the message reads:
At Hospice Renfrew, our Wind Phone is a sacred space for reflection, grief and remembrance. It is here for anyone – whether you’ve lost a loved one, a relationship, a sense of home, health or any part of life that mattered deeply.
You are invited to pick up the receiver and speak.
Say what’s in your heart: a thank you, a memory a question or simply goodnight. You may speak, cry, smile or sit in silence. There are no rules – only the knowing that what you feel is valid and that your words matter.
Whether it’s been days, months, or years your love still lives.
Speak freely. Love listens.
Hospice volunteer Dorothy Moore shared her thoughts on the wind phone and had this to say.
“I was standing reading all the plaques inside next to the phone and suddenly could hear a delicate beautiful sound as I was concentrating on reading. I realized there was a gentle breeze blowing and the soft tranquil sound was from the wind chimes to the left. A warm, cozy feeling came over me. What a special place for people to reflect and connect.”
By Gerald Tracey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Jul 30, 2025 at 09:21
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