Giovanna Hesley has marched in the procession every year since her husband, Steven Hesley, died in 2011 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the lymph nodes. He was 52, and they had been married for just five years, together for seven. “He was the love of my adult life,” says Giovanna.
“He was very kind,” she says about Steven. “He was tall and quiet and athletic. He fostered dogs. … He was a woodworker, very creative. We had hiking in common. When we went out, he always looked for a heart-shaped granite. When he found the stone, he knew it was the right time to propose. He made big romantic gestures like that. … Both of us had terrible singing voices, but we would sit on our lawn chairs, look at the stars, and sing at the top of our lungs.”
“It was very helpful,” she says about participating in the procession after his death. “I was able to be in a crowd of people who felt the same. … A memorial wasn’t enough for me; I was happy to have the community.”
Giovanna, an artist, made beads out of his ashes and clay she collected from where they had their last hike. She often gives them out to people, including hikers she passes on the trails. Sunday, she’ll have her beads with her when she walks.
