David Bailey Turns Parents’ Ashes Into 40 Parting Stones — People

David Bailey turned the ashes of his parents into ceramic parting stones in 2022, then carried them to places tied to their lives and family history. The people in his family received some of the stones, while others went to memorial sites in Canada, Belgium and Scotland.

Clifford Bailey died in 2015 at age 89, and Jessie Bailey died in 2021 at age 90. Bailey said the process cost about £2,000, or around $2,700, per person and produced around 40 parting stones.

Montreal and Halifax

Bailey gave some of the stones to his three siblings and other loved ones in the U.S. and Canada, and he kept some on his desk. He also visited Montreal, where Clifford had grown up, and placed stones at locations that mattered to the family.

At the naval docks in Halifax, Canada, Bailey threw a stone into the ocean where Clifford and Jessie first met. He later traveled to Belgium and placed a stone at a cemetery where people his grandfather fought with in World War I were buried.

World War II memorial

Bailey also placed a stone inside a bronze World War II memorial statue because his father served in the war. “My dad was so proud to have served. And so I found a little crevice up in behind the wings of that angel, and dropped a parting stone in there,” Bailey said.

He said the stones let him keep the people he loved close while also letting go. “You are holding them close and letting go at the same time. At a memorial service, people will bury their loved ones and tell stories. But the parting stones gave me an opportunity to live those stories again,” he said. Bailey said his next trip would be to Scotland to place his mother’s stones where her ancestors were from.