Huggable Urns: teddy bear urns, pillow-shaped urns, plush cat or dog urns to hold the remains of pets
Shrike
Mom finds a way to hold on to lost baby
Bear stuffed with girl's ashes a comfort for trial
June 22, 2006
BY JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
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Lori Lemons of Wayne cradles a bear containing the ashes of her
cremated daughter, NaKita, on Tuesday. She takes the bear, in a
dress she bought for Easter, everywhere -- to restaurants, family
gatherings and court. Her husband is charged with first-degree
murder in NaKita's death. His trial starts in August. (JACK
KRESNAK/Detroit Free Press)
NaKita Faith Lemons at 8 weeks old. She was 2 1/2 months old when
she died in October. Her father is accused of shaking her.
Wherever she goes -- to a restaurant, to visit family and
friends, or to court where her husband faces a murder trial in
August -- Lori Lemons takes her dead daughter with her.
NaKita Faith Lemons was 2 1/2 months old when her father, Milton
Lee Lemons, 32, allegedly shook her violently while watching her
in the couple's apartment in Wayne on Oct. 10.
NaKita died the next day, and Lori Lemons knew right away that
she didn't want to visit a grave. She wanted her daughter
cremated so she could keep her ashes at home.
But while surfing the Web for a suitable urn, Lemons came across
www.huggableurns.com, a site for a California company that sells
urns shaped like teddy bears.
"I thought it was perfect," Lemons, 27, said this week. "Now I
have something to be able to hold on to. She can join me in
parties. I can dress her up for the holidays. It's as soft as a
baby, almost."
Lemons chose a 14-inch-tall, plush white teddy bear from Huggable
Urns. With a zipper in the back and a sturdy, plastic-lined
velvet pouch inside, it is designed to hold the ashes of a loved
one or cherished pet.
"My son has taken naps with her, and I dress her up for the
holidays like she's still part of the family -- she's just in a
bear form," Lemons said.
Huggable Urns is just one of many new ideas being marketed as
ways to preserve, display or even make use of a cremated loved
one's ashes. Ashes are being incorporated into jewelry, duck
decoys, shotgun shells, fireworks -- even Michael Jordan-model
basketballs.
Putting ashes into teddy bears that can be hugged or carried
around is the brainchild of Alexandra Lachini, 53, of Redding,
Calif. But she credits her father, John Romero, who died in 1998,
with coming up with the idea -- post mortem.
"My dad was not a spiritual guy," Lachini said this week. "When
he passed, he started talking to me. 'Get me out of the closet'
-- that's what he said. I'm serious."
She went to her mother's home in Pollock Pines near Lake Tahoe
and said, "Mom, where's Dad? She made this funny look and said,
'He's in the closet.' I said, 'Well, he doesn't want to be there.' "
Lachini said she took her father's ashes home, and "he started
... talking to me about the energy of the ashes and how important
it was to keep them and hold them."
She said her father told her he wanted to go places with her, so
she put his ashes in a nylon purse. Later, he suggested a teddy bear.
"My dad guided me to this company, Plush Creations in San Mateo,
in the same building where my dad used to play bridge," Lachini said.
With her design ideas, the company helped create the bears, which
come in a standard size and can be personalized in various ways,
including with angel wings with rose petals on them and a halo.
The bear holding NaKita Lemons' ashes currently is outfitted in a
pink dress her mother bought for Easter.
"I've taken her to restaurants, out to dinner, over to family
members' houses," Lori Lemons said. "Actually, the majority of
the people I come across say, 'Oh, that is so cool. That is just
perfect. I would've never thought of that.' "
Lemons took the bear with her to the preliminary examination for
her husband and plans to take it to his jury trial on a
first-degree murder charge, scheduled to begin Aug. 2. Lemons
also brought it with her to court when a referee recommended that
Milton Lemons' parental rights to the couple's other child,
2-year-old Milton Jr., be terminated. A judge agreed.
Milton Lemons told police he was angry and depressed when he
shook his daughter to get her to stop crying. Detectives said he
demonstrated using a stuffed animal.
"He's seen the bear," Lori Lemons said of her husband, whom she
plans to divorce, though she is not sure he realizes his
daughter's ashes are inside it. "I honestly don't know if he
understands."
If you'd like one
In addition to the 14-inch teddy bear urns for cremated
remains, Huggable Urns sells 18-inch-square pillow-shaped urns
and a plush 14-inch cat or dog to hold the remains of pets.
Prices range from $85 to $99. The company also offers
various ways to personalize the urns, including with blankets and
caps for the bears or bear-sized T-shirts with the insignia of
the five military branches.
For more information, go to www.huggableurns.com or call
530-245-9921.