Just as the removal of one letter from the word ”whole” creates a “hole”, the loss of a family member leaves a void for those left behind. One way to help heal the rift is to remember the departed with a permanent marker on the landscape. A stone memorial can fuse the acknowledgment of their passing with the memory of their life on earth.

It was my client who pointed out to me that the stone I picked out as the basis of the design for their daughter Lucy’s memorial was actually “L” shaped, for Lucy. The symbolism I saw in the natural form of the stone was that of a square that had lost a corner. Over time, the square had become incomplete, but there was something I could do, at least symbolically, to make it whole again. To complete the design I would locate a second stone, the shape and size of the missing corner, in close proximity.

The memorial was installed this past September in a place on the Marlboro College campus that Lucy frequented when she was a student there. The “L” stone is perched on two cascading sets of steps that lead to a granite block (the missing corner) outfitted with a brass dedication plaque.

The design and placement of the work developed over the course of a year with collaborative input from the client, the college, and Dennis Tier; the plaque designer. A.S. Clark Excavation and I worked together on the transportation and installation of the memorial. My thanks to all for making Lucy’s Place a lasting memory.