Couple who lost a baby help others who are grieving
By Caroline Lynch
The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When Tony and Darcie Sims lost their 13-month-old son Austin to a brain tumor in the 1970s, they noticed that people stopped saying his name.
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They also found few resources for the grieving.
Among the items Tony and Darcie Sims sell is a "memory wreath" on which people can attach items reminding them of their loved ones.
"We figured if — if — we lived through it, we'd do something about that," Darcie said.
The Simses first began working with others in the same boat, and later started The Grief Academy to provide grief support training. Darcie Sims got her doctorate in psychology and has become a world-recognized author and speaker in dealing with death. But the pair's most tangible response began three years ago in Louisville, Ky.
The couple created and began licensing rights to The Grief Store, which sells grief-related items.
"We wanted to make these resources widely available to people who need them," Tony Sims said.
The Simses just opened their seventh Grief Store, just outside Atlanta. In addition to that store and the Louisville headquarters, Grief Stores are in Prescott Valley, Ariz.; Clearwater, Fla.; Beverly, Mass.; Nashua, N.H.; Delaware, Ohio; and Brazil, Ind.
Most stores are small, some simply a kiosk. They're placed in funeral homes, hospitals or counseling centers. Products are also available on the company's Web site.
The Grief Store
Abb Dickson, owner of the Atlanta funeral home that houses the store, said he put in a Grief Store because he's often asked to provide coping materials to grieving families, schools or hospitals, and has had to scramble to find the specialized materials they seek.
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"If you walked into a large chain bookstore, they would send you to one little dusty corner where they have four or five books," Dickson said. "They don't have these specialized topics."
People come to the store who aren't at the funeral home for a service, he said.
Darcie Sims and her daughter, Alicia Sims Franklin, sell their own books on death at The Grief Stores, along with a line of cards Darcie Sims created. Books and CDs deal with all kinds of death: pets, children, suicide.
The store offers Herbal Eye Tea bags to soothe swollen eyes; kits for making personalized memorial stones; and music boxes, jewelry and clocks that hold cremated remains. Personalized oil paintings that incorporate cremated remains are also offered.
The couple created memory wreaths and memory boxes to give people ideas on how to display treasured items their loved ones left behind.
"We want to teach people how to keep memories alive," she said. "We want them to remember that their loved ones lived, not just that they died."
