Man plants 4.5 miles of sunflowers for his late wife

Field of sunflowers

A farmer outside of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has planted four and a half miles of sunflowers to commemorate his late wife. The 60-foot-wide strip was planted across three farms by Don Jaquish, whose wife Babbette succumbed to cancer last November at the age of 66.

“She’s always loved flowers, but sunflowers were her favourite,” Jaquish told local TV station KARE. Babbette herself came up with the idea to plant a field of sunflowers halfway through her 9-year fight with multiple myeloma. She wanted to bag and sell the seeds and use the profits to benefit other families dealing with cancer. Unfortunately, her declining health forced her to put the idea aside.

Now, Babbette’s husband and daughter have started the charity Seeds of Hope, which will sell the field’s bounty of sunflower seeds and use the profits to support families dealing with cancer and other illnesses. Each bag will be graced with Babbette’s smiling face.

“She was a pretty modest person and I’m not so sure she’d want her picture on the bag,” said Jaquish, “but she’s such a beautiful woman. She didn’t really know how beautiful she was, inside and out.”