Families create eternal reefs to rest loved ones at sea

SURF CITY, NC (WWAY) — In Surf City families are saying one last goodbye to their loved ones in a different way.

It’s a four-day process created by Eternal Reefs Inc.

“To me it will be healing, because he was my best friend,” Susan Miller said about her brother Steven Yannocone.

Miller and her family are preparing to say goodbye to her brother Steven one last time.

“He suffered many years,” Miller said.

For 30 years Miller says Steven’s wife Marie spent every single day with him as he battled MS, but today Marie says that suffering is over.

“I am excited about him being with the sea turtles. He loved the sea. He used to sail all the time,” Marie said.

Marie says Steven asked for this kind of ceremony 13 years ago.

“I come home from work, he said, ‘This is what I want done. Call the family meeting,’ and here we are,” Marie said.

Don Brawley created Eternal Reef Inc. 15 years ago when his father-in-law passed away.

“It’s just a way of taking private money and building public reefs with them and really bond to a positive environmental effort,” Brawley said.

For Steven’s family that bonding starts Friday as they mix the cement with his ashes and then add their own memories.

“I’ve chosen to put his wedding ring in the reef ball, because he was never without it,” Marie said.

Rings, pictures and favorite colors are all different symbols placed on Steven’s eternal reef as an eternal memory.

“We’re all going to live together for the next few days, and he would have loved a good party,” Miller said.

It’s a party that will end Monday as they head to Topsail Beach, but it will be a memory that lasts forever, as Steven’s eternal reef is placed at sea.

“I am happy in a sense that he will finally be at rest,” Miller said.

The families taking part came from New York, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Florida to memorialize their nine loved ones along with four sea turtles, Ranger, ICie, Banks and Wiggles, which were all lost within the last year.

Monday family members will board the family boat for the trip out to the reef, where they will watch as their loved one’s reef ball is lowered from another boat to its final placement and beginning of a new reef system.