'1 call at a time.' Wind phone allows people to make connections with loved ones.

Lynda Shannon Bluestein has brought a wind phone to the Ridgebury Congregational Church in Ridgefield. The concept originated in Japan.

Mark Sudol and Rose Shannon

Oct 18, 2023, 4:51 PM

Updated 414 days ago

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A Bridgeport woman has a found a way to deal with grief, one phone call at a time.
Lynda Shannon Bluestein has brought a wind phone to the Ridgebury Congregational Church in Ridgefield.
The concept originated in Japan.
"This phone will never ring. It's connected by love. To nowhere and everywhere. It's for those who have an empty place in their heart left by a loved one. Say hello, say goodbye, talk of the past, the present or the future. The wind will carry your message," says Bluestein.
The phone is an old disconnected rotary phone attached to a wooden post at the end of a gravel path.
"I believe that grief and death are two conversations that we just don't tend to have and yet they are part of life," says Bluestein.
Bluestein, 76, is dying and currently battling fallopian tube cancer.
She has reached a settlement with Vermont to allow her to become the first nonresident to access medical aid in dying.
"My family is knowing very much about my imminent death and that there's going to be grief, and I want to do this for all husbands and wives and sons and daughters and children," said Bluestein.
Bluestein is working on people being able to borrow a wind phone at the Westport Library.