GREENSBORO — Janice Young
carefully plucks trinkets, charms and odd earrings from a box of vintage
jewelry hauled down from a dusty attic. With a well-trained eye, she
groups the pieces into piles that she’ll later use to create bracelets,
adorned with keepsakes and tokens from the past.
It’s her way of preserving memories because, as Young discovered, sometimes a memory is all you have left of a loved one.
In
2004, Young’s oldest son, Deebs, was killed in a car accident while on a
roller hockey trip in Georgia. Deebs was a superb athlete, gifted with
intelligence and multitudes of friends. He was 15.
That tragedy motivated Young to begin collecting mementos for her children.
“I
started gathering things that were meaningful, like the jewelry Don
(her husband) gave me when each child was born,” says Young of
Greensboro. “I collected game pieces from the game Monopoly that we used
to play as a family and jewelry from my parents and grandparents. I
thought it was important for Sloan and Kemp (her children) to have
tangible memories of people important to them.”
When Deebs died, Young
wanted to honor the people who helped her family cope with their loss.
So about two years ago, she started making necklaces and bracelets from
her own collection of keepsakes, as well as trinkets or vintage jewelry
pieces from her customers. The styles of bracelets range from chunky and
elaborate to simple and elegant. Young puts a new spin on traditional
charm bracelets by using watch chains or strands of chain belonging to
the customer. Making them has been a positive outlet for her.
“The
bending of the metal, sanding rough edges, finding the right balance of
charms is very therapeutic to me,” she says. “I like knowing that
people will enjoy wearing these bracelets that represent events and
loved ones that have been meaningful in their lives.”
For
her own bracelets, Young likes to group items in threes to symbolize
her children, sometimes using old buttons and typewriter keys with
letters to indicate the initials. She often wears a necklace she
designed using old watch chains hooked together to make a lariat. She
has a locket from her grandmother, engraved with the letter “S” for
Sloan, a mother-of-pearl pin with the letter “K” from her grandfather
Kemp, three small rings from Don’s grandmother and an angel symbolizing
Deebs.
Young says it’s common for people to have
collections of vintage jewelry that they never wear. But her bracelets
give these pieces new purpose.
“It’s sad because people
don’t wear their family jewelry because it sits in a box,” she says. “I
can take an old clip–on earring and convert it into pierced (earring) or
use it as a charm or drill a hole into a piece so it will hang.”
After
Deebs’ death, Young continued to experience losses and challenges.
Three months after Deebs died, she learned she had Stage 3 breast
cancer. Six months after Deebs died, Young lost one of her closest
friends. Nine months after that, Sloan lost her best friend to a brain
tumor.
“There were so many losses and people who just
seemed to slip away. It made me acutely aware of how important it is to
make memories of people you love,” Young says. “The fact that Deebs died
made it important for me to hold onto memories, but I think it’s
important for everyone to keep their memories, too.”
Contact Carole Perkins at CPGuilford@aol.com
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