The Widower
Photo Montage Tugs at the Heartstrings Two Years Later
It’s hard to believe, but tomorrow—Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026—marks two years since my wife, Cheryl, died of Alzheimer’s complications at Agrace Hospice.
Time has passed swiftly.
To mark that occasion, I saved a special topic for this week’s column. When Cheryl died, I passed fifty photos to Schneider Funeral Directors here in Janesville, Wisconsin, to create a montage, set to beautiful piano music, showcasing the life I led with her. After her services, Schneider’s gave me a compact disc containing the montage. On Monday, I watched it for the first time since Cheryl’s memorial service.
Through our more than 25 years together, Cheryl insisted that we have prints made of everything from holiday gatherings to our many vacations. Photo albums fill a huge bin in the basement. Others cram built-in cabinets behind me as I type this in what is now my home office.
Some of you might find it morbid, but as the inevitable closed in, I knew I’d have too many decisions and too little time for memorial planning once Cheryl took her last breath. So in her final weeks of life, while Cheryl wasted away in a Janesville memory care facility—she weighed just sixty-eight pounds three weeks before she died—I started poring over upwards of 10,000 photos. Selecting the fifty best for the montage was difficult. I chose dozens more to fill large display boards.
Mourners viewed the montage and display boards as they waited in line to pay their respects during visitations the day before and the morning of Cheryl’s memorial service.
Last year, I disassembled the display boards, and someday I’ll return each picture to its respective place in our photo albums.
Watching the montage on Monday, tears welled in my eyes at certain images, especially those from our early years. Cheryl was beautiful, but the passage of time left me a bit foggy on just how gorgeous and vibrant she was, how bright the smile of the woman I married in 1998 on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Monday night, after eating supper with my girlfriend Jennifer, I watched the montage again with her. Halfway through, she reached for my hand. My tears flowed by the time it ended, and Jennifer hugged me.
I had hoped to set up a link at a site called Vimeo so not just relatives and friends but all readers of this week’s Substack column could view the montage, as well. Several months ago, I enlisted the help of someone more adept at computer technology than I am. Unfortunately, I didn’t click on the link we’d crafted until Monday, and that’s when I discovered the site has only about the first 25 percent of the package.
For now, you can see that section by clicking on this link.
Click the “unmute” button near the top so you can listen to the lovely music while viewing the passing images.
