Words Carried on the Wind at the Knox County Nursing Home

The Forgottonia Times™ Report

At the Knox County Nursing Home, a new structure now stands with a simple but profound purpose: to give residents, families, and staff a space to speak to those they have lost. The installation is a “wind phone,” a disconnected telephone designed for one-way conversations with deceased loved ones.

The concept originated in Japan after the devastating 2011 tsunami and has since spread around the world. Users lift the receiver and speak words they never had the chance to say, believing the wind carries their messages on the wind to their loved one. For many, the ritual is less about answers than about release — a private moment to process grief and keep memories and conversations alive.

Nikki Harrison, Marketing and Admissions Director at the nursing home, said the idea came after the facility lost a longtime employee to cancer. In preparing a care basket for the woman’s children, Harrison included an old phone in hopes it might bring them some comfort. “The concept may sound funny to some but I thought it was a beautiful concept,” she said. “Our director of nursing and I talked about it and she said, ‘We should do one here.’”

The wind phone was built by Galesburg resident Shawn Retter, a mechanic who has called the community home since 1980. Inspired by a TikTok video and his own experiences with loss, Retter first built a wind phone in their garden for his wife, Lisa, after both had lost parents, and they opened it up to the community. He also created one for Foster’s Voice, a suicide awareness program in the Quad Cities. For him, the wind phones are a way to tell your loved ones about the good times or the angry moments, not just the sad parts. “It's a way to be free from all restrictions and restraints. Speak from the heart and know that your loved one is there and WILL hear all the words that you speak.”

For Nikki Harrison, the installation is also part of a broader mission to reshape public perceptions of the nursing home. She describes the facility as a clean, mid-century modern building filled with dedicated and talented staff, and she hopes projects like this will encourage more of the public to visit.

“I hope this addition will give people the opportunity to connect and say things they may not have been able to say while their loved one was alive,” Harrison said. “I hope it is therapeutic and can mend hearts.”