Derrick Johnson wants to find a permanent home in Colorado Springs for a wind phone to honor his mother, Ellen Lopes, one of the identified victims of the Return to Nature Funeral Home case.
A wind phone is an unconnected telephone booth — with no wiring or dial tone — where people speak to deceased loved ones, with the belief that their voices are carried to them on the wind.
"When she passed, I noticed that I really did want to keep speaking with her, and I would pick up my phone on accident," Johnson said. "Then I heard about this amazing thing called a wind phone."
Johnson said the drive behind his mission traces back to his mother.
"The motivation, the initiative, all of that came from how special my mom made me feel," Johnson said. "And so now I feel like I'm getting a chance to honor her."
He said he is still working through the grieving process, but draws strength from his mother's memory.
"I often refer to myself as a tree, and if I'm a tree, my mom is the roots," said Johnson.
After posting about the project on Facebook, Johnson said the response surprised him.
"The response was nothing less than magical," Johnson said. "An amazing number of people liked it, and even more amazing, we had a lot of suggestions come in for places where this phone could actually go."
He tells News5 there have been six promising locations and when he comes to Colorado next, he will be scouting out three or four of those locations.
Johnson's vision extends beyond a single wind phone. Once he builds his wind telephone booth, he plans to memorialize all 192 victims of the Penrose tragedy — one phone for each identified victim, plus one for all unknown victims.
"Which would count for every victim as well as one for all of the unknown victims," Johnson said. "The goal of this is to just create a space for not just victims of Return to Nature, but anyone that's lost someone they love to reconnect with them."
He said he wants to put one wind phone in every state. The first one will be for his mother, Ellen Lopes, and the rest? For every victim of Return to Nature Funeral Home.
"Our drive is strong for it, and I think we're going to continue building these to bring some sense of belonging again and controlling their grief a little more to anyone that's ever lost a loved one," said Johnson.
Johnson is still on the lookout for a final resting place and tells me he is grateful for all of the support.
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