Award-winning Scots filmmaker Lesley Paterson has turned the ashes of her late husband into a diamond as a heartfelt reminder of him.
Paterson, who won a Bafta and was Oscar nominated for her adapted screenplay for 2022 film All Quiet on the Western Front, was bereft when Simon, her husband of 22 years, died on June 1 last year.
The 51-year-old professor of exercise science at San Diego State University in California had been battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Now, in a lasting tribute to him, she has employed ‘ashes-to-diamonds company’ Eterneva to create the memorial.
In a video clip, posted online, a staff member at the company’s facility in Kerrville, Texas, can be seen operating the machinery needed for the process.
Paterson then enters the shot before pressing buttons on a control screen for the machinery to start the process.
In a message written to accompany the video, Paterson said: ‘Really special visit to the @eterneva facility today to see how they are turning lives into a legacy by making diamonds from ashes. Si’s diamond is something I will treasure forever.’
In a message of thanks to the staff at the company, Paterson said: ‘You’re doing something incredibly special.’
Lesley Paterson has turned the ashes of her late husband Simon into a diamond
Ms Paterson posted a video online showing her starting off the process
She said the final diamond will be something she will treasure for the rest of her life
Carbon is extracted from cremated remains and turned into diamonds
Stirling-born Paterson, who is also a world champion athlete, met Mr Marshall, who was studying sports psychology at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, when she was 21.
The pair worked together to get her ready for athletic competitions, and he helped her develop mindset skills that she has said made her feel invincible.
With the prize money from international triathlon events, the couple took some time out to co-write what would turn out to be a blockbuster film set during the First World War.
Based on the 1929 novel Im Westen nichts Neues by German-born author Erich Maria Remarque, it took 16 years for the film to move from page to screen.
It was praised by critics and received 14 Bafta nominations and nine Oscar nominations after its release in 2022.
But the celebration of their success was cut brutally short when Mr Marshall was diagnosed with cancer.
As well as a sports scientist, he directed a number of films and had been collaborating with his wife on bringing Viktor Frankl’s 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning – based on his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp – to the big screen.
Paterson won a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for All Quiet on the Western Front
The couple had vowed to fight the illness together and in January 2024 launched an appeal to pay for special treatment which raised almost £100,000. But Paterson, 44, took to social media last summer to confirm her husband had died in the US.
She had written: ‘My lovely darling boy passed away yesterday, June 1st.
‘He was my soul and my light. The pain is real but I will take this suffering and turn it into beauty in honour of his spirit. Love you all.’
