Willis Wipf’s 10,000 Earrings of Love
Finding Meaning After Loss
At 95 years old, Willis Wipf still walks to his workshop every day.
Not to earn money.
Not for attention.
But to keep a love story alive — one pair of earrings at a time.
He started making them nearly thirty years ago.
The earrings were for his wife, Joyce, when they moved to a recreational vehicle park in Mesa, Arizona.
He picked up rocks from driveways and streambeds, cut them into smooth shapes, and polished them by hand.
Then he turned each one into a small work of love — a gift for Joyce to wear.
Today, even though Joyce has been gone for decades, Willis still makes earrings.
Every morning, he switches on the lights in his small neighborhood workshop and gets to work.
Creating Beauty from Grief
After Joyce died, Willis felt lost.
The quiet mornings, once filled with conversation and laughter, were suddenly empty.
“I needed a reason to get out of bed,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post.
So he went back to his tools and the little boxes of stones they’d collected together.
In crafting each earring, Willis began finding meaning after loss — a way to stay connected to his wife and the life they built.
A Gift That Keeps on Giving
Over the years, he’s made and given away more than 10,000 pairs of earrings to women in his community.
He doesn’t sell them.
Doesn’t ask for anything in return.
He simply gives them away.
Each pair takes time and care.
He cuts, grinds, and polishes every stone, often shaping them into teardrops or triangles.
Then he glues on small hooks, places them neatly in little bags, and smiles.
His neighbors often stop by to see what he’s made.
Many of them wear his earrings proudly — bright pieces of color that carry his kindness and his story.
Some women say they have entire collections of Willis’s earrings, in all shades and shapes.
Others tell him how much they appreciate the thought behind them.
For Willis, that’s enough.
Purpose, One Stone at a Time
Wipf’s workshop isn’t grand.
It’s a simple space filled with grindstones, tools, and small trays of colorful rocks.
But for him, it’s where purpose lives.
“I just want to make people happy,” he says. “It keeps me going.”
That quiet sense of purpose has carried him through grief, loneliness, and the long years since Joyce’s passing.
Every polished stone is a reminder that love doesn’t end — it simply takes on new shapes.
The Lesson in Willis’s Story
For anyone facing loss — especially in later years — Willis’s story is a gentle reminder that healing doesn’t always mean moving on.
Sometimes it means moving forward with love still in your hands.
He found comfort not by forgetting, but by creating.
In his own way, he turned sorrow into something tangible and shared that warmth with others.
His earrings aren’t just jewelry.
They’re little symbols of what it means to keep living fully.
To keep giving, and to keep finding meaning after loss.
And maybe that’s the real secret to long life.
To keep your hands busy, your heart open, and your memories shining bright.
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