Beth Chapman’s Daughter Cecily Believes She ‘Was With Her’ During One-Year Memorial

Beth Chapman’s daughter Cecily Chapman opened up about the memorial she held in Hawaii last month to mark one year since her mother’s death. Cecily said she could feel Chapman’s “presence” on June 25, when she organized an intimate ceremony on Hawaii’s Big Island. Chapman’s widower, Dog the Bounty Hunter star Duane “Dog” Chapman, organized another memorial in Colorado that same day.

Cecily organized a memorial ceremony at Waimanalo Beach and asked fans who could not attend to use the hashtag “For the love of Beth” to share their memories of Chapman. She finally shared photos from the event with The Sun on Thursday, revealing that she felt Chapman was “with her” the entire day. “I thought a lot about planning it and making it perfect for her, making the best flowers,” Cecily said. “It was definitely something I worked on all month long just to make sure that it was perfect. Then when the day came, I was really focused on what was going on. So it was kind of a bittersweet distraction. I was constantly on the move and I constantly had something to do all day. And that kind of got me through it.”

When Cecily paddled out to see in her mother’s memory, a “pure feeling” came over her, like “there was God’s light coming from the clouds and felt like [Beth] was there.” Chapman’s best friend Mary also attended and said all her photos showed a “green light,” which they believe was Chapman’s spirit. “You could definitely just feel her presence all through the day,” Cecily told The Sun.

Chapman died on June 25, 2019, after a long battle with throat and lung cancers. She was 51. Cecily said she continues to struggle with her mother’s death. “Once it was all said and done it was a bittersweet feeling …I felt really sad because I didn’t want it to be the one year already,” she said of the memorial ceremony. “I felt like I was at peace but it has still taken me a while to share these pictures because I felt like it was just so precious to me at the time.”

Cecily’s “rock” during this time of grief has been her fiance Matthew. She was initially scared of the thought of walking down the aisle without her mom, but she now believes she is ready. “I feel like it took me a year of grieving to reassure me that this is who I think I should be with because if he can put up with me at my best, my worst, then I feel like I should give him that shot,” she said. “I feel like he deserves it because he’s been with me for thick and thin.”

Cecily said she is also excited about the prospect of there being two Chapman weddings this year. Duane is engaged to Francie Frane, and Cecily said the family should schedule both weddings for the same week. “My goal is to get married next summer, but within the next two years for sure, depending on money, travel, and everything,” she told The Sun. “So yeah there could be two Chapman weddings and that would be very exciting.”