Our Story
Let us tell you about our Michael, and share why we have chosen to do the work that we do.
Michael Pope Cheney
1983-2006
In early 2006 our 22 year old son, Michael, contracted a drug resistant super bug (MRSA) while away at college. He was a healthy, robust college junior, but this drug resistant bacterium took his life in only 4 days. MRSA destroyed his lungs and he died much like those who today are dying from Covid-19, on a ventilator.
We wanted very much to have a cremation diamond made with his ashes, but for a couple of public school teachers, these were not affordable.
Since Michael was a lover of light, and since he was born in Cape Canaveral Hospital, we decided to experiment with glass that was originally developed to protect the faces of American astronauts in space. Once we learned how to create beautiful gems, we experimented with treating ashes in such a way that they will continuously absorb and release energy in the form of light. In darkness, the ashes cast a faint light and resemble a Heavenly night sky.
Physicists have said, “We are all made of stardust left over from the dawn of creation,” and “the universe is a hologram, every part contains the pattern of the whole.” We love the idea that we are stardust and that each of our ashes contains the pattern for the whole being.
We call our stones “Starseed Gems.”
Marion and I have found great comfort in many places….pastors who have been reassuring and supportive, friends and family who have held us up when we thought surely we would fall and never get up, and our clients, who have shared their own stories and grief with us have helped us with their kindnesses and sense of community.
Lynn Cheney
StarSeed Gems 