Darrell Sheets had some major plans prior to his death, according to fellow Storage Wars stars Dan and Laura Dotson.
“Just before he passed away, I heard, he lost 40 pounds, and that he was wanting to get really healthy and in shape,” Laura, 58, told Us Weekly exclusively. “[He] was preparing for his birthday party in May, and he had a huge big soiree planned.”
Laura said that Sheets’ death was “just out of the blue” because of his future plans.
Sheets, who was a fixture on Storage Wars for 13 years, died by suicide this past April. He was 67.
The late reality star was remembered during a celebration of life ceremony in Huntington Beach on Monday, June 29.
Dan, 63, told Us that “a lot of the cast members were there” — both “old and new” — to celebrate Sheets. People from the A&E production team were also in attendance.
“People got up and they got to share their stories,” Laura added. There were also 67 doves released during the event, which she said was “pretty spectacular.” The number of birds was a symbol of how old Sheets was when he died.
“They did a wonderful slide show for him, showing him from a child to an adult and just celebrating his life,” Laura said, noting that there was a donut bar to pay homage to his “favorite thing.”
Attendees also wore casual clothes to honor Sheets.
“A lot of people showed up in their tank tops, and they said, ‘You know, Darrell wore tank tops, so if you love Darrell, just dress comfortably like he always did.’ I even had my tank top on, but I had a blouse over the top,” Laura recalled. “People were showing their tank tops and doing Darrell and yelling out ‘The wow factor’ and stuff like that.”
There was also a photo booth and an album where attendees could share “life stories” and “wonderful” messages for Sheets.
“There [were] a few of those books being passed around that people were filling up and taking photos of themselves and put them in there, which was fun,” Laura continued. “There was an entire area all the way down the entire ballroom of Darrell’s collectibles, things that he did, stories, fun things that people go, ‘Oh, I remember this on the show.’”
As expected, Laura told Us that the entire event was an emotional affair — especially for his family. (Sheets was a father to son Brandon and daughter Tiffany.)
“Everybody would be hugging and praying and lifting Darrell up again, and then they would start laughing at something somebody would say,” she said. “It was tears of joy and happiness, and [they were] talking about, ‘We know that Darrell is with God. We know he’s in heaven.’ Just the feeling that you know that they know that he’s there, so they can have peace.”
Read the full article here
