08/28/2026
I have struggled with how to write this post because there really aren't words big enough for what I need to say.
Our mother passed away.
But we don't want this post to be about her death. We want to tell you a little about who she was.
Our mom was such a huge part of our lives, and whether you knew it or not, she was a huge part of The Stone Pit, too. She helped me, supported me, worried about me, encouraged me, and stepped in wherever I needed her. She gave me something incredibly precious: her time. Because she was there, I was able to keep building this little shop and keep working toward the much bigger things I dreamed of doing with it.
Some of you knew her. Some of you saw her here at the shop. Others may never have met her at all, but if you've enjoyed The Stone Pit, then you've experienced something she helped make possible.
She believed in me. She believed in what I was trying to build. And when life became too much for me to carry by myself, she helped carry it.
She wasn't just "my mom who helped at the store." She was my person. She was someone I could call, someone I could count on, someone whose presence was woven into the ordinary parts of my life in a thousand ways that I am only now beginning to understand.
There is an enormous empty space where she should be.
I know The Stone Pit will look a little different for a while as we figure out how to do life, and this business, without her beside us. But I also know that we want to keep building the things she helped us begin.
Because that is part of how I will carry her with me.
Thank you to everyone who knew her, asked about her, prayed for her, or thought of her during the last few weeks when her world became very difficult.
Her name was Julie. We called her mom.
And she mattered more than I could ever fit into a Facebook post. 💔
Receiving friends and family Sunday, August 30, 2 to 8 pm.
Service Monday, August 31, at 11 am.
Brook's Funeral Home in Melcroft, PA.
