PANAMA CITY – Multi-colored helium balloons whirled in the heavy winds Sunday afternoon as a Panama City woman prepared a tribute to her late husband.
Barbara Coker lost her husband, Frank “Bud” Coker, to lung cancer in February of this year, although she didn’t know he had cancer until July, when she finally opened her husband’s wallet and found a letter from him.
“He didn’t want me to know,” said Coker.
Coker said that Christmas was her husband’s favorite time of year.
Coker had several family members with her at the marina to help her release 100 helium-filled balloons – the foil kind often found in grocery stores – and a styrofoam Christmas tree about a foot tall.
“I have sent balloons this whole year, a few a month [for my husband], and I said, ‘What can I do for Christmas?’ And I knew Christmas was coming and I knew I couldn’t do Christmas until he had his tree,” said Coker.
The balloons, tied in several large bunches of red hearts and blue and green stars to the railings at the end of the marina, were cut loose one bunch at a time, to fly off into the northwest. “About 90%” of the balloons bore the name of a deceased loved one, according to Coker. Most were names of Coker’s family members, though she invited anyone who wished to add a loved one, saying she had “extra balloons.”
As the red hearts and blue and green stars disappeared, Coker and some of her helpers pulled the tree out of the back of a vehicle where it was being kept out of the wind. The tree was attached to three large balloons shaped like Christmas tree ornaments and exclaiming, “Happy Holidays!”
As the tree was released and snatched up by the strong wind, Coker called out, “Go, Bud, go!”