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Kody Brown was faced with a father’s worst nightmare on the latest episode of Sister Wives… which once again focused on the tragic death of son Garrison.
“I talked to the sextant of the cemetery and he’s the one that would normally dig the graves,” the 56-year old explained on May 18, adding to the camera:
“And I just asked him permission if I could dig it. It means something to me. I don’t know why.”
As previously reported, Garrison has been buried in the state of Wyoming.
The father of 17 noted that it was “deeply emotional” for him to be able to bring Garrison’s ashes to his family’s native area — and to dig the actual grave they would go in.
“This is like an old west country cemetery. And I’m going to dig the grave,” Kody said on air, adding that his brother and his brother-in-law were going to help.
As these individuals mapped out how to go about this painful process, Kody hearkened back on his pilgrimage to bring Garrison to his final resting place.
“I’ve never done anything like this, digging a grave. And I think this is one of the most important things I’ve ever done,” Kody said in a confessional through tears “It’s the last ode to my boy. … This is my duty, my job.”
Garrison died by suicide in March of 2024. He was 25 years old.
Once the task was finished at the cemetary, a very sad Kody pulled out three chairs and sat next to the burial site, taking in the sunset.
The following day, Kody’s family joined him for a funeral. Garrison’s mom, Janelle Brown, and her and Kody’s five other children were all in attendance.
While Kody and Janelle broke up in December 2022, the latter said the moment that she passed her son’s ashes to her ex to put in the grave they were “just parents” mourning their child.
Their extended plural family — including Kody’s other former spouses, Meri Brown and Christine Brown, as well as his current wife, Robyn Brown — were also there for support.
We truly can’t imagine what they were all thinking or going through.
Prior to the burial, the officiant of the service asked all loved ones to take off their shoes and stand barefoot on the ground to “feel connected to the earth” and to the ground that Garrison was about to be placed under.
“The theme about taking off the shoes, it’s not a Mormon thing. It’s not a fundamentalist Mormon thing,” Kody told viewers. “This funeral is not cookie cutter by any means. And that would be how Garrison would have it.”
Hunter Brown, who is one of Kody and Janelle’s kids, shared a few words before adding something to the grave.
“Garrison was my playmate he was my bunkmate for all of my life. He was my arch nemesis and my best friend and beloved brother,” he said with a laugh. “Garrison was my first commissioned officer, and this was my hat that I got my first salute from Garrison in.”
Previously, Kody opened up about the loss of his child.
“Grief hits you in waves. When it hits me, I can’t run from it,” Kody on an earlier installment that was filmed about four months after Garrison took his own life.
“If I cry it out, or if I sob it out, I can cut it short, but when that wave comes, I cannot prevent it from affecting me.”
