Phone By the Sea Connects Grief and Healing
If you’ve visited North Cove recently, you might have noticed a new addition near “Silhouette Jaenette.” Nestled on the north side is a small kiosk holding a phone—one that doesn’t dial out, but instead invites people to connect with departed loved ones. It’s called the Phone By the Sea.
Silhouette Jaenette and Phone By the Sea at North Cove
The idea came to life through a mix of dreams, a TikTok video, and a grieving mother’s love. Jaenette Bush-Hudson, who owns The Knotty Siren gift shop in North Cove, lost her son Zackery in a rollover car accident two years ago. After his passing, she kept having the same dream: she and Zackery were searching for his phone, over and over.
One day, Jaenette stumbled across a TikTok video about a “Telephone of the Wind” hidden in the woods of Olympia. Curious and moved, she drove to Squaxin Park to find it.
“It’s just a phone booth in the trees where you can call someone you’ve lost,” she says. “It touched my heart. I called my son’s last phone number, and I swear I could hear the ocean. I came home and knew—I wanted to bring something like this to North Cove.”
Phone By The Sea
Jaenette is a member of Cranberry Heritage, a local nonprofit, and reached out to her friend and the group’s president, Kelly Redford. Together, they brought the idea to life. Within a month, the Phone By the Sea was installed and officially dedicated on May 1, 2025.
“My friend Danny Hahn made the installation,” says Jaenette. “There’s a dedication to Zackery and a poem by Linda Ellis called The Dash. It reminds us to live in the present. We hope this becomes a place where people can find comfort and closure.”
Alongside the phone are small memorial plaques, available for $20 through Cranberry Heritage. So far, about 40 have been placed in memory of people and pets. The very first plaque honors David Cottrell, a beloved cranberry farmer and environmentalist who passed away in 2023. Cottrell and his wife Connie founded Wash Away No More, the grassroots movement that helped save North Cove from devastating coastal erosion. (Read more about it in WIRED.)
Wash Away No More is also behind the nearby art installations: “Metal Marcy and Hawkeye” and “Silhouette Jaenette.” These metal figures double as photo stations—visitors can place their phones in a mounted holder and snap shoreline photos to track erosion over time. Learn more about the project here.
And yes—Silhouette Jaenette is modeled after Jaenette Bush-Hudson herself.
“I was sitting in my shop one day talking with David’s wife, Connie, and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if anyone, any day, could take a photo in the same place?’” Jaenette recalls. “We asked John Jones, who lives down the street, if he could make a silhouette. We did some fundraising through Wash Away No More, and made four of them. We’ve only installed two so far.”
“So yes, that’s me next to the Phone By the Sea.”
The Cranberry Heritage nonprofit has long served the South Beach community. Once the caretakers of Grayland Community Hall, the group now focuses on broader outreach—supporting education, recreation, scholarships, and local projects.
“We’re a small group—just 12 of us,” says Kelly Redford. “But we’re always looking for ways to support the South Beach and new people who want to get involved. The Phone By the Sea is exactly the kind of project we love to support.”
The Water Bash is family friendly fun
Cranberry Heritage also hosts four community events each year:
The Water Bash in July at Grayland Hall
The Driftwood Show and Glass Float Hunt (now in its 62nd year) at Grayland Hall.
The annual Gala Fundraiser in November at North Cove Bar and Grill in Tokeland.
The festive Christmas Bazaar in December at the North Cove Bar and Grill in Tokeland.
As for Jaenette, the installation has already brought her some peace. “As soon as the phone was up, I called my son,” she says. “I haven’t had that dream since.”
If you would like to purchase a memorial plaque for Phone By The Sea, please email Kelly Redford, cranberryheritage2@gmail
Author note: I visited the Phone By The Sea to “call” my mom, who passed away last September. The tears flowed, yet it somehow felt healing. My mom loved the beach, and it felt like the perfect place to call her from.