For many, keeping the remains of their loved one or pet can be healing. But it can also be a source of disconnect. This is exactly what Justin Crowe aims to correct. He is the inventor and entrepreneur of Parting Stone. As described on their website, this new, ingenious service is a “new form of human and pet remains.” He encourages readers to “Never get a meaningless box of ash again. Feel connection with solidified remains.”
This project was started when Crowe, being part of the death care industry, heard stories of friends who kept the cremated remains of their loved one or pet in their basements, closets, and garages. He realized, “People who live with cremated remains desperately want to feel a connection with them, but they can’t. In their hearts people want to cherish the remains of their loved ones and pets but they feel frustrated because they don’t know what to do with them.”
He interrogated the reasons for this disconnect, and he found them. Many people feared spilling the remains or worried about touching exposed ash. Some were even fearful looking at the remains, as seeing bone fragments triggered violent or depressing images of the cremation process.
Larry Stuart, Jr. of Cremation Strategies & Consulting also comments on this struggle, saying, “Folks want permanent memorialization of their loss but, sometimes, just don’t know what to do with a box of ashes. Grief is capricious and, for some, it can be hard sometimes to associate that box with a deceased loved one.”
So, as Crowe reflected on this complex, heartbreaking problem, he came up with PartingStone. This revolutionary form of remains isn’t messy, scary or off-putting; it’s a solution people could touch — even hold — as a therapeutic, healing component of a continuing relationship with the deceased.
With PartingStone’s services, families can now receive a collection of clean, smooth, solid stones. “Solidified remains are about as hard as real stones and will not disintegrate in water,” explains Crowe. “Stones range from the size of your thumbnail up to the size of your palm.” Crowe was intentional with this creation, offering solidified remains in a size, heft, and texture that encouraged touching, holding, and even caressing.
The ideology behind this service is both comforting and connective: “Parting Stone believes that death is the end of a life, not a relationship,” says Crowe. “We thought that the significance embodied in the essence of our loved ones could be a profound tool for continuing bonds, but we noticed that forming connections with cremated remains was rare.”
PartingStone is located in New Mexico and offers customers a streamlined shipping process. Both death care professionals and those who have unmemorialized remains in their homes can initiate an order. Orders can begin online at their website or at-need at a funeral home or crematorium. And, as a thoughtful addition, families who choose solidified remains at the time of death never see the cremated ashes. They can pick up their stones when they are delivered to the funeral home.
The entire solidified remains service takes about three weeks from the time ashes are received. This includes cleaning, polishing and returning the stones.
We encourage all our readers to consider this profound, original service. Healing, being such a personal journey, should be full of options both traditional and not.
