Wings of Wood

My good friends John and Mary Wilborn lost their son to AIDS in 1996. While John Jr. was in the hospice, they noticed angel figures everywhere.

"We wanted to leave an angel in his memory," John said. Mary sketched the angel while she sat at her son's sickbed, and one of John Jr.'s friends etched it into stone. Many people at the hospice admired it.

After John Jr. died, his father thought, "I'll make John's angel for people who want one." So he got busy in his workshop carving the angels from wood. "I needed something to do just to maintain my sanity after my son's passing," he said. "It felt good to make something that would comfort families going through the same thing we had."

Word spread and soon John was getting requests from near and far. In 10 years he's sent 2,000 angels.

"From letters or conversations, I find something to carve into the angel to make it personal," says John. He's done a Star of David, two hearts and Semper Fi for a family who'd lost their Marine son. John carves much more than wood. He carves a place of peace in people's hearts.

-----

Don't miss another issue of ANGELS ON EARTH Magazine, filled with dedicated angel news including true stories of angels at work in everyday life, angel sightings and animal angels. Subscribe now!