Vicky Cornell posted an intimate love letter sent to her from late husband Chris Cornell on the Fatherly site on Thursday (July 1), explaining in an interview how she keeps the rocker’s memory alive for their kids. The hand-written letter is a testament to Chris Cornell’s passion, scrawled in red all-caps and filled with his hopeless devotion to his wife.
“I write this with the quivering hand that is guided by the fortunes of a heart lucky enough to know true love,” Cornell wrote in the letter a spokesperson confirmed was from the late Soundgarden singer’s hand. “My heart is a beating drum and my voice a clanging bell sounding to the world, I love you be mine in joy lit only by the glow of our shining love! I love you so.”
In an interview, Vicky Cornell said that four years after her husband’s May 18, 2017 death in Detroit at age 52 she keeps his memory alive for their kids Toni and Christopher — Cornell has another daughter, Lily, from his first marriage — by keeping him “constantly” in the present. “We speak about him, we play his music, we share memories, we work in his legacy and I include my children in that,” she told the site. “We continue the great charitable work that he did personally and through the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation. Giving back was important to Chris and it is something we did together as a family, so we still do that and it keeps his memory and what was important to him alive.”
Vicky Cornell said Soundgarden’s fans also help, sharing their stories about how Chris impacted them through his music and lyrics. And though her family is a big source of support in tough times, Vicky said grief is something she has to deal with every day. “In a way it is worse now — in the beginning, you have the false sense that he may come back or that you will wake up from the nightmare, there is also a survival mode that kicks in then,” she said. “But now, the reality has set in that this is forever.”
Luckily, she said, her children are her “light” and watching they grow up and find happiness within their own passions “fills my heart and soul.” Click here to see the letter.
Source
