Daily Herald News Art

The death of a spouse is a loss virtually every couple will suffer. But few of us are prepared.

On a beautiful September day in 2016, Patty Hindes watched her husband, Arlington Heights barber Corey Hindes, drive off for an afternoon motorcycle ride just as he had countless times before. Seven minutes later, he was in a crash that ended his life. And forever changed hers.

She had been a wife. Suddenly, she became a widow.

All loss is difficult. But few losses are as devastating or as challenging as the one every committed couple can count on -- the irrevocable loss of life’s most intimate, most endearing, most intuitive companion. The loss of life’s partner.

Last Kiss is an unusual, and unusually personal, series-within-a-series exploring this ultimate tragedy that befalls all married couples. One series: Patty Hindes’ love story with her husband Corey and her 18-month attempt to pick up the pieces of her life, in storytelling meticulously crafted by Daily Herald Editor John Lampinen. The other series: First-person accounts written with poignancy, eloquence and advice by suburban widows and widowers themselves. Two series joined in the same quest: Hope and comfort.

The last kiss. How do we prepare? How do we heal? How do we carry on? With depth, elegance and sensitivity, Last Kiss strives to offer some answers.