Losing a loved one never really gets better, although with time it does become easier to process the grief and mourning. Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman, best known for his work on Dog The Bounty Hunter and Dog’s Most Wanted , has been sharing his journey with grief and mourning after losing his wife of 13 years, Beth Chapman, last year.
Beth Chapman, 51, tragically passed away last year on June 26th.
After a long fight with stage four throat cancer, Beth Chapman passed away after much of her illness was documented on Dog’s Most Wanted.
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Dog has been very transparent about his grieving process, and has often invited fans of the family into the process to help with their own grief.
Dog has opened up about an emotional memorial service they performed on the one year anniversary of Beth’s passing.
According to The Sun , the Chapman family “filled one of Beth’s inflatable rafts with her favorite flowers, belongings and her photo, before taking it to one of her favorite beauty spots, where [they] set it free to float down the river.”
“I can’t believe it’s been a whole year and she’s never coming home,” Dog said.
“In a lot of religions and a lot of beliefs, they mark it as a tradition on the one year date that someone has passed away. So sticking with tradition we are having this memorial for Beth Chapman,” Dog revealed to The Sun.
“[My daughter] Cecily is doing the one in Hawaii where they all paddle out and she said a thousand or more people showed up,” Dog stated of the second ceremony.
“Every Father’s Day, Beth would like to come to this river and come down in the exact raft you can see here. I would always sit here – cold, wet, raining – she always went. Usually the weather stayed fine. But she loved it,” Dog said, explaining why they had decided to use the raft.
“So today I think it’s a good tradition that we do for Beth,” Dog said.
Dog then revealed that he brought his fiancée Francie Frane to the service, saying, “And I brought Francie along and I brought my sister Michelle and I’m not sure I could have done this alone without Francie.”
“So we have to do the memorial and not be too over-sad and then we’ll watch the next generation go down the South Platte River.”
“I think this is a really nice thing to do for Beth and she would be so proud we thought of this,” Dog said.
Our thoughts are with the entire Chapman family during this difficult time.
