Page 21 - South Mississippi Living - February, 2021

Better known as the Stone Man and the Gem Lady, the couple met through a mutual friend at church. “When we rst met, we would walk the beach together every day. For years, every single day,” Taylor-Scranage reminisces. “We were together 24/7 from a couple of days after we met, onward.”
The couple eventually decided to
go into business together and open
The Stone Man and the Gem Lady
due to a shared love of earth sciences, jewelry-making, and design. Scranage had been in the jewelry-making and design business for close to thirty
years when they met each other, and Taylor-Scranage had a lifetime of retail experience. “We decided it would be better to have our own shop rather than working for someone else.”
After nearly fourteen years in business,
they loved owning their own small business more than ever. “We would have been lost without our customers,” Taylor-Scranage says. Their customers were one the most important things
in their lives, and they truly made an impact on Scranage who was a Coast icon in his own right. The Stone Man, who loved to cook, would even bring leftovers to the shop and give them to anyone who was in need.
Not only did Scranage love to take care of the shop’s customers, but Taylor- Scranage as well. “He went home and made my lunch fresh every day. He was a fabulous cook,” the Gem Lady describes. “When he went home to make my lunch, I couldn’t wait for him to come back. Not just to eat; I was always anxious
to have him come back to be here with me.”
The Gem Lady tells an achingly sweet story: Throughout their relationship, neither of them could sleep all the way through the night. Whenever one of them would get up in the middle of the night, the other would get up as well, ready to have a cup of tea and spend time together. If one of them got up earlier than planned, the other would get up to check on the other and see what was going on. They spent much of this time talking, planning, and guring out how to make life easier for each other.
“We just loved to be together all the time. He brought me owers all the time. We just cared for each other. It’s important to be involved with each other’s concerns, health, and wellbeing. We always considered what we could do to make each other feel better,” Taylor-Scranage says.
The Stone Man and the Gem Lady
98 N. Je Davis Ave., Ste. A, Long Beach 228.864.9269
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net
February 2021 | 21