The world was rocked by devastating news that the great Glen Campbell lost his life following a five-year-long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Six years prior in late 2011, the country legend was diagnosed with the disease at age 75, Glen’s family members becoming caregivers and decision-makers in the process, a decision many people disagreed with.
“There was a time when all I could remember was the sickness,” Kim shared with PEOPLE. “But now that he’s passed, the good memories are starting to flood back in.”
Glen married his fourth wife Kim back in 1984, he 46 and she 24 at the time. As the disease progressed, Kim was forced to make the difficult decision to admit her husband into a care-giving facility.
“Trolls on the Internet said very unkind things … I’d get death threats.” she revealed. “They’d say, ‘Why couldn’t she hire a big strong man to handle him?’ But I put child locks on my kitchen cabinets and it would make him mad. He would rip the cabinets off the wall and pull out all the dishes onto the floor.”
While it had been no doubt the most difficult six years of his life, music was the light in moments of darkness. Two years following his diagnosis, the singer embarked on a 137-stop farewell tour.
“The goodbye tour was one of the biggest blessings for Glen that anyone could have imagined. The doctors emphasized to us that music was stimulating for the brain and it would be healthy for him. It was Glen’s choice to do the film. He loved the camera – after all, he did a TV show for years. That was part of who he was. He said it was the most important thing that he was doing at the time. He knew he was trying to show the world what living with Alzheimer’s was like because he wanted to help find a cure.”
The tour was filmed in its entirety, a 2014 documentary I’ll Be Me released as the result, the film’s “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” receiving an Oscar-nomination for “Best Original Song.”