Cutting the ribbon to dedicate the new Stone Garden at AHCH’s Hospice House in Auburn are (l. to r.) Dianne Boucher, Mary MacMahon , Julie Shackley, Lucie Boucher, Claudia Takacs and Karen Flynn.

Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice (AHCH) recently hosted a ribbon-cutting event to unveil its new Stone Garden, an artistic work representing the migration of the spirit for patients cared for at its Hospice House in Auburn and their families. The ceremony took place on a beautiful October Friday afternoon with 25 guest, staff and community members in attendance.

President-CEO Julie Shackley, Foundation Chair Mary MacMahon, Hospice Director Karen Flynn, artists Dianne Boucher and her sister, Lucie, and Claudia Takacs, wife of the late Antony Takacs, who created the iron stands for the bowls, made the dedication.

The Stone Garden represents Migration of the Spirit. After the loss of a loved one, one of the greatest challenges for a survivor is letting go emotionally. While the passage of time itself works to this end, ceremony and the physical things which embody a ceremony can make this easier, pointing the way and leading the survivor to a peaceful acceptance.

The work is a collection of fused glass vessels, arranged to symbolize the emotional letting go of a loved one. Stones originally placed in a bowl inside Hospice House are, over time and with appropriate ceremony, moved, first outside and then, through the descending sequence of five vessels, to the ground and the environment from which all life originates. The creation of the work was a collective artistic effort of professional glass artist Lucie Boucher of Stone Ridge Glass and her sister, Dianne Boucher, science teacher and artist in training.

Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice is a nonprofit, Medicare-certified agency that provides patient-centered care that is meaningful, effective, efficient and has lasting value. They provide specialized, skilled, supportive hospice services to Maine residents and their families in the comfort of their homes and community. For more information, see www.AHCH.org.