Denver groom Ryan Pocius was widowed while hiking on his honeymoon last week after his new wife, Kathleen Bartlett, was struck by lightning.
The newlyweds were hiking on Colorado’s Mount Yale on the final day of their honeymoon when they – and two fellow hikers – were hit by several bolts of lightning.
Sadly, Kathleen died at the scene.
Ryan, who was rescued some hours later, was hospitalised briefly before being released.
Understandably devastated, Ryan penned a heart-felt tribute to his beloved wife on Facebook and included these touching words: “We worked for 40 minutes to try and bring her back to no avail. Yet, everyone should know that Katie was doing something she loved – hiking.
We were sharing a personal goal that we wanted to accomplish to set our marriage off right – peaking a 14er together, and we achieved that with pictures to prove it. She had said on the hike up that it was the most beautiful hike she had ever been on. She was so happy that day and she was surrounded in a bed of wildflowers as far as her eyes could see as she passed from this world to the next.”
Ryan and Kathleen on their wedding day. Image: Ryan Pocius via Facebook
