Jackie Guthrie, singer Arlo's wife, dies

WASHINGTON, Mass. -- Folk singer Arlo Guthrie has announced the death of his wife, Jackie, at age 68.

Jackie Guthrie had inoperable cancer and died Sunday at the couple's winter home in Sebastian, Fla., according to an obituary released by Arlo Guthrie's record label. The couple had recently celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary.

In a Facebook posting, Guthrie says his relationship with his wife was "a very great love." "We didn't always like each other," he wrote. "From time to time there were moments when we'd have our bags packed by the door. But, there was this great love that we shared from the moment we met -- a recognition -- It's YOU! And we would always return to it year after year, decade after decade and I believe life after lifetime."

Jackie Guthrie was from Salt Lake City and grew up in Malibu, Calif. She met Arlo Guthrie, a Brooklyn native, in 1968 while working as a cashier at the Troubadour, the West Hollywood nightclub.

The next year, the couple purchased a 250-acre property called "The Farm" that the family still owns in Washington, in western Massachusetts.

The couple raised four children, and in recent years the family toured together, with Jackie Guthrie working as the videographer. This past summer, the family toured to celebrate the centennial birthday of Arlo's father, folk singer Woody Guthrie, and Jackie became so weak she could barely hold up the camera, according to the obituary. In early September, she was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer. -- AP