This love is eternal. Suzanne Somers was laid to rest last week and wore a very special pair of shoes, according to her husband, Alan Hamel. The 87-year-old opened up to PEOPLE about the boots he purchased for his late wife during a new interview on December 5. “Suzanne never really had boots designed for hiking on the rocks, so I ordered the Timberland boots,” he said of the shoes Suzanne was laid to rest in.
Alan even made sure to customize the boots so that his wife had a meaningful present. “[I] made my gift personal by drawing on them in a few words that represented our life to some degree and made them very personal to Suzanne,” he added. Although the Three’s Company alum had “every Manolo Blahnik ever made,” Alan said it would have been “predictable but not very personal.” Some of the phrases on the boots that he added included: “We are one” and “in love forever.”
The Timberland boots were extra special for Suzanne to wear on her “final trip,” as she and her husband often went hiking daily as part of their routine. “Every time she put on the Timberlands, she said, ‘I am wearing you, and my boots will keep me safe,’” Alan added. Their hikes “always included hiking to the top of one of the mountains, where there was a creek and a large flat rock in the middle of the creek.” Suzanne and Alan resided near the mountains in both Malibu and Palm Springs.
Alan also revealed that they would often hikes for a few hours. “By the time we got there, which was about a two-hour hike, the rock had been warmed by the morning sun,” he explained. “We would have our lunch on the rock and then take a one-hour nap on the rock and then hike back down and go to work.” The blonde beauty was laid to rest and honored with a celebration of life ceremony on November 30.
Suzanne died one day ahead of her 77th birthday on October 15 following a longtime battle with cancer. Her publicist, R. Couri Hay, revealed that she died “peacefully at home” that Sunday morning. “Suzanne Somers passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of October 15th. She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years,” Hay wrote in a statement provided to HollywoodLife at the time. “Suzanne was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family. Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th. Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”