Duane “Dog The Bounty Hunter” Chapman honored his wife’s final wish for a traditional Hawaiian memorial, where he delivered a touching eulogy.
In the eulogy, Duane Chapman talked about how after his mother’s passing she was laid to rest in Hilo, Hawaii, and how a local tribesman declared him an official Hawaiian since his mother “was part of the land, the sea, the sky, and the rain.”
“And now Beth is going to be placed here too. She got there before I did, my island,” Chapman jokingly added.
He said that Beth unusually called him by his stage name, “Dog,” when expressing her wish for a Hawaiian-style memorial.
“She said, ‘Please, Hawaiian style, Duane Dog Chapman.’ I tried to have her call me Dog for so many years. She said, ‘Please do this right,’ so I appreciate everyone being here. I have to go out on the boat so I can see everybody right, its Hawaiian tradition and style. Thank you all, God bless, Aloha.”
After the eulogy, a Hawaiian outrigger boat headed out to sea, joined by surfers for a final “paddle out.”
Dozens of family, friends, and fans attended the memorial, which was open to the public. Earlier, Bonnie Chapman, the couple’s daughter, shared an invitation to the event on social media.
“In her own words, she said, ”I love Hawaii“ the most, so we are sending her off in true Hawaiian style, aloha,” the invitation reads.
Some recorded the memorial on their phones before sharing on social media.
Another service will be held for Beth Chapman in Colorado, where the couple had another home.
Dog the Bounty Hunter on Wife’s Death: ‘She’s Sleeping’
Earlier in the week, Duane Chapman issued a statement on his wife’s passing.He also warned people from donating to any unauthorized funds for Chapman, saying, “we don’t need any money at all,” adding that fans should send flowers instead of cash.
Beth was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 before she was later declared cancer-free. It returned in 2018 before she underwent surgery.
“Beth was somewhat of a control person—not from the grave but from heaven,” Duane told reporters. “I’m sure she’s still controlling me and I’ve got notes in my pillowcases, on my sink, in my shaving thing. She’s still telling me what to wear.”
“One of the last things she said [was], ‘It’s a test of my faith.’ She had faith and that was it,” he also said. “There’s things you go through when you’re dying, like steps like you do when you lose someone, right? You get mad at them, and then you go through all these steps.”
“Well, the last step when you’re dying is to accept it,” he added. “And she said to me the other day, ‘Honey, that last step, I ain’t taking…’ So go, Bethy.”
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