Details of Beth Chapman's emotional Hawaiian service; Colorado memorial to follow
Family and friends of "Dog the Bounty Hunter" star Beth Chapman gathered on a beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, Saturday to honor the reality star's memory after she died last week at age 51.
Chapman died on June 26 shortly after reports claimed she had been placed in a medically induced coma. The reality TV star, wife of Duane Chapman, had been battling Stage 4 cancer.
Her memorial service was hosted Saturday afternoon at Fort DeRussy Beach in Waikiki and was open to the public. Family lawyer Andrew Brettler told USA TODAY that Chapman's life was honored "in true Hawaiian style, with aloha."
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Those in attendance brought "ocean-friendly loose flowers" because the strings on traditional Hawaiian leis "can be harmful to ocean life," Brettler added.
"'Oe means 'you' in Hawaiian," Brettler shared in the statement. "It is customary to say 'Aloha 'Oe', especially when saying farewell. There is a song by the same name which Hawaiians often sing at the end of a party, funerals, or when people are leaving the islands."
Fans took to social media with photos of the memorial service along the hashtag #AlohaOeMrsDog.
Beautiful service God bless the family #alohaoemrsdogpic.twitter.com/KVKXtokGBZ
— Stephanie Rice (@Stephan67797198) June 30, 2019
Hawaii News reported that friends and family paddled out into ocean waters in honor of Chapman in true Hawaiian funeral tradition.
Chapman and her husband spent most of their time both in Hawaii and Colorado and her daughter, Lyssa, told Hawaii News Now that her mother will also have a memorial in Colorado.
Dog was the first to announce the passing of his wife of 13 years. He told reporters that in her final moments she expressed her loved to her family and didn't want them to worry.
"It’s 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain. Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side," he wrote on Twitter June 26.
People magazine reported that the loving wife and mother was admitted to Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu on June 22. Dog shared a photo on social media of his wife from her hospital bed just a day before her death. The picture showed off Beth’s jeweled French manicure and her wrist full of hospital bands.
“You all know how she is about HER NAILS!!” he wrote alongside the photo.
The “Dog the Bounty Hunter” co-star was first diagnosed with stage II throat cancer in September 2017. Two months later the Chapmans publicly announced that the cancer was completely removed, last year it returned and was diagnosed as incurable after it spread to her lungs.
While speaking at the Source Church in Bradenton, Florida, on Mother's Day, Chapman revealed that her diagnosis was “the ultimate test of faith.”
“I don’t go to God and go, ‘Why did I get cancer?’” she said. “He’ll roll his eyes at me again, because I know why — because this is the ultimate test of faith. It is the evidence of things hoped for and it is the substance of things not known.”
Beth and Chapman starred in the A&E reality TV series “Dog the Bounty Hunter” for eight seasons and despite the cancer battle, the couple worked together on another reality TV show called “Dog’s Most Wanted” that will premiere in the fall.
A&E announced that the network will be placing "in memoriam" title cards for Chapman at the end of each episode during Monday's regularly scheduled four-hour "Dog the Bounty Hunter" marathon.
