Rory Feek revealed Sunday that he hasn’t picked out a gravestone for his late wife Joey Feek, saying he just can’t bring himself to accept the permanence of her death.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBS Sunday Morning , made available via CBS News , the former country star opened up about mourning, his life and career with Joey, and attempting to piece together a life now that Joey has died .
Six months after Joey Martin Feek’s March 4, 2016, death from cervical cancer, Rory says that he has still not been able to purchase a gravestone for her.
“I just can’t bring myself, for some reason, to go and order a stone yet. I don’t know why, I just can’t. I don’t know if it’s that she’s so simple a wooden cross is part of what she would like. It probably has something to do with permanence.”
The couple’s now 2-year-old daughter, Indiana, who was born with Down syndrome, has come to terms with the death of her mother in her own way.
“She’ll just sign ‘Mama’ and say ‘Mama’ every once in a while. But usually it’s in the car, ’cause she wants to hear Mama sing.”
The father and daughter’s quiet life on a Tennessee farm is a far cry from just a few years ago when the husband-and-wife duo Joey + Rory was one of the hottest acts in country music.
Back in 2002, Rory Lee Feek was living on a farm and raising his two daughters from a previous marriage. He had made something of a name for himself in country music circles as a songwriter but had never made headway in the industry performing. Then, he met and fell in love with veterinary technician Joey Martin Feek.
“My wife stalked me! That’s what she says. She actually saw me play at a songwriter’s night in Nashville at the Bluebird Cafe. And that’s proof that there’s a God. Because there’s no way I could have landed that girl without His help!”
The couple from Pottsville, Tennessee, would go on to form a band, go on tour, and, in the process, rack up a slew of Academy of Country Music (ACM) nominations and awards, as well as a Grammy nomination. Their debut album, The Life of a Song , peaked at No. 10 and the U.S. Country charts, and their country gospel album, Hymns That Are Important to Us , peaked at No. 1.
Even as the fame and accolades were pouring in, however, Joey Feek was losing a battle against her own health — a battle that would later claim her life.
Not long after daughter Indiana was born, Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer. After a brief round of treatment, she was declared cancer-free. However, by the following summer, her cancer had returned and metastasized into her colon. Doctors deemed her cancer terminal.
Over the last few weeks and days of Joey Feek’s life, the Inquisitr covered Rory’s heartbreaking blog posts as he watched his beloved wife die in front of his eyes. On March 4, 2016, she lost her battle with cervical cancer and was laid to rest on the farm she’d shared with her husband.
Since Joey’s death, Rory has tried to piece his life back together. He goes to a bench on the farm, next to the spot where she’s buried, to have coffee with her every day. He’s focusing on raising his daughter, and he has no intention of going back into country music.
“I don’t want to be on stage without her. That’s what I’m thinking about right now. It wasn’t something that I loved that much, to be on stage performing. She loved to be on stage performing, and I loved to stand next to her. I just had the best seat in the house, to watch the world discover my wife.”
Rory Feek is currently working on a documentary about Joey, entitled To Joey, With Love .
[Photo by Chris Pizzello/AP Images]