Widower Honors Wife Who Died of Cancer With 4 Miles of Sunflowers
The love this husband has for his late wife continues to bloom.
Don Jaquish, 65, planted four-and-a-half miles of sunflowers along each side of a Wisconsin highway to pay tribute to his wife, Babbette, who passed away from cancer last November at the age of 66 . Babbette's favorite flower, as you could probably guess, were sunflowers.
She got to be known as the sunflower lady of the community. So after she passed away, I thought it would be a tribute to her to plant 4.5 miles of sunflowers on each side of Highway 85."
Don planted the flowers along Highway 85 in Eau Claire back in June and was rewarded about two-and-a-half months later when the flowers bloomed.
It's not just a gesture to his wife, whom he married in 2000, either (it was the second marriage for both of them). After battling cancer for eight years and enduring nearly two dozen types of treatment, Babbette thought it'd be a great idea to to raise sunflowers and sell seeds, with the profits going toward cancer research.
Don has certainly lived up to her hopes. Shortly after her death last November, he launched Babbette's Seeds of Hope.
The seeds are not ready to buy just yet and it's not known how much each bag will cost, but Don will make sure Babbette's story appears on each bag sold.