“Glen wouldn’t have made it through those times without her,” Jackson told Parade. “I’ll go as far sometimes as to say Kim saved his life.”
Despite a relapse, Kim stayed by her husband’s side. They had three children together, Cal Campbell, Shannon Campbell and Ashley Campbell.
In 2009, Campbell started having the occasional memory lapse. Two years later, he was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Kim took care of her husband at their home in Phoenix, Arizona, and the “Rhinestone Cowboy” singer was forced to officially retire in 2013.
The 2014 documentary I’ll Be Me follows Campbell’s farewell tour and centers on his battle with Alzheimer’s.
After a four year battle, Campbell passed away in 2017. After taking care of him throughout the painful process, Kim had time to prepare herself.
“It’s such a long, long goodbye that you’re conditioned already to accept it,” she told PEOPLE. “But you carry around the sadness with you for so many years. The sadness lingers.”
In honor of her late husband, Kim helped organize the archives of his life for The Glen Campbell Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
“I feel like it’s a way to honor him, and I want to do everything I can to preserve his legacy and to share it with future generations.”
