Barry and Sue Collier were married for 34 years. The pair had a magnetic connection. Sue liked that Barry could make her laugh and that he had clean fingernails. Barry loved that she always kept eye contact when they spoke. He was mesmerized. On his 50th birthday, the couple vacationed in wine country. When Barry joked that he could "do this forever," she agreed. She told him they should sell the house and run a vineyard together. He obliged.
Then came the bad news. Sue was diagnosed with ALS. Barry was at a loss for words. "If somebody had said to me on the day of our marriage that I had to sign a contract that said I could only have her for 34 years and not a second longer. I would have said, 'Where can I sign?'" Barry says with no regrets. He believes that working in the vineyard he named "Sue's Block" is like living amongst her spirit. His experience is none too different than the widower who planted miles of sunflowers to honor his wife Babbette. Barry feels her in the trees, in the song birds, in the earth. Today, he creates a very special blend of wine in Sue's honor and donates 100 percent of the proceeds to ALS research.
"She didn't know how beautiful she was inside and she didn't know how beautiful she was outside," Barry says.
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