Singer's wife talks of dementia impacts
Just days before the television premiere a documentary film about her husband, Kim Campbell made a stop in Kalispell to meet with community members and discuss the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease on her and her family.
Campbell, the wife of legendary country and pop singer Glen Campbell, was speaking about the disease that has wracked their lives.
The documentary, “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me,” premieres on television on Sunday, June 28, on CNN.
“It’s been heartbreaking on a daily basis,” Kim Campbell said. “It’s challenging. You constantly have to adjust your life to meet his needs.”
At the garden event hosted by Immanuel Lutheran Communities in Kalispell, Campbell met with potential sponsors for improved Alzheimer’s and related dementia care in the Flathead Valley. Rob and Halladay Quist provided music and the assisted-living home provided refreshments for the dozens of guests.
Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2011, just before he was set to do a five-week tour.
“Glen had just finished a beautiful album called ‘Ghost on the Canvas,’ and we were all set up for the tour,” Kim said. “I had him seeing a neurologist because he was forgetting things. Then we got the diagnosis.”
The doctor told them that if Campbell felt comfortable, he should still go on the tour.
“We got the doctor’s blessing. It was supposed to be good for him,” she said. “I said what if you had mess-ups on stage? He said, ‘Well, I guess I’ll tell them I have Alzheimer’s.’”
Filmmaker James Keach followed Campbell on his farewell tour, culminating in a Nov. 30, 2012, show in Napa, California.
The documentary was shown at the Nashville Film Festival in April 2014 and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song for the film’s theme, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You.”
Kim and Glen met in the early 1980s and were married in 1982. They have three children.
Glen Campbell, 79, speaks in a sort of “word soup” and can’t really make much sense, his wife said. But he’s still there.
“He’ll tell a joke and we won’t know what he is saying, but he’ll laugh and that’ll make us laugh,” she said. “It sort of depends on how you look at it, but every day is a good day. He’s cheerful, surrounded by love. He’s an example of making the best of what life gives you.”
The documentary will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Sunday night on CNN. A special screening of the film Oct. 24 at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish will be a fundraising effort for Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.