#Dog The Bounty Hunter Honors Late Wife Beth Chapman With Sweet Birthday Tribute

As you’ll recall, Beth Chapman tragically lost her battle with lung cancer in June 2019. Even over a year later, the loss is very much at the front of the A&E star’s mind — especially at this time of year; Beth would have been celebrating her 53rd birthday this week. So Duane took the time to honor his late wife with a short and sweet Instagram tribute, which was met with thousands of likes from fans.

Related: Dog The Bounty Hunter’s Daughter Defends His Engagement

Along with a photo of Chapman, he wrote:

“You are celebrating this day with Jesus and all his angels that’s the only thing that gets us through without you happy birthday Beth we miss you & love you”

Jamie Chapman, wife of Dog’s son Leland Chapman, paid homage to her late mother-in-law, commenting on the pic:

“Happy Birthday Beth. We love you and miss you tremendously.”

As we mentioned, Beth lost her lengthy battle with cancer on June 26, 2019 after being placed in a medically induced coma days earlier during the production of a new series with her husband, Dog’s Most Wanted. The couple had been married for 13 years and were together for more than twice that long prior to tying the knot.

Together, they had two children, daughter Bonnie and son Garry. Duane also adopted Beth’s daughter by her ex-husband, Cecily, and helped his wife reconcile with her eldest son Dominic, who was born when she was a teenager.

The Hawaii-based bounty hunter announced just 10 months after his wife’s passing that he was engaged to Francie Frane, who had also recently lost her husband to cancer. In an interview last month with ET, Frane explained how they lean on each other through good times and bad:

“We understood the pain that the other one was feeling and [in] those tough days and moments, we helped each other stand up. We could cry with each other and talk about what we were feeling. We were able to walk alongside each other through the pain and heartbreak and it brought us together in this amazing way.”

The father of 12 chimed in about how they honor Beth and Francie’s late husband Bob together on important dates like wedding anniversaries and birthdays:

“We honor those dates and we don’t feel guilty, but it’s kind of strange. But we’re in love and I say all the time, ‘Beth, I’m glad you provided me with Francie because that wasn’t on my list.’”

To use Dog’s own words, is this “kind of strange” to do together? Or a normal part of grieving? Let us know your thoughts (below) in the comments.

[Image via Nikki Nelson/WENN.]