• BY J.R. ORTEGA - JRORTEGA@VICAD.COM
• Originally published August 25, 2009 at 5:15 p.m., updated August 26, 2009 at 9:11 a.m.

• For more vacation memories, see Page B1.

What was going on inside Peggy Warren's husband's body was a stark contrast to the paradise the couple was experiencing in Hawaii in 1999.

It was Peggy's final trip with her husband, Ken, who had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate and liver cancer in 1998 and died in 2000.

"His doctor told us if you plan to do something, you better do something now," Peggy said.

Despite the troubling times, the couple knew their time was short and tried to make the best of it.

Not wasting time, Peggy decided to book a tour to visit the islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui and Hawaii for 13 days.

"We did it all," said Peggy as she flipped through a scrapbook adorned with tickets, brochures and other memorabilia.

In their 13 days, the couple attended two luaus, saw Diamond Head, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Waikiki Beach, Hanalei Valley Kauai, Park Ranch and St. Benedict's Catholic Church.

Twenty years of Kenneth's life were spent in the U.S. Air Force, so traveling was something he enjoyed doing, Peggy said.

Ken had toured Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

The history of the islands were something Ken was very interested in, Peggy said.

Two helicopter rides over active volcanoes and visiting Pearl Harbor helped fuel that passion.

"There was nothing he didn't enjoy about that trip," Peggy said.

The Warrens' tour group had 46 people and Peggy said she and Ken got to know each of them well.

One Illinois couple kept in contact with the couple until Ken's death and still keep in contact with Peggy today.

This past February would have marked the couple's 50-year anniversary, Peggy said.

In that time, the couple would frequent California, Illinois and Vermont. However the couple never chose a destination vacation until Hawaii, she said.

"We made every trip we took into a vacation," Peggy said. "That's just the way we looked at it."

After the trip, Ken's health began to go downhill, Peggy said.

Ken prepared a list of things to do when he was gone, she said.

"He said 'I'm not always going to be around so you need to know how to do these things'," she said.

Ken prepared phone numbers and explained how to do things around the house he would typically do.

"It is very trying to try and figure out what to do next," she said.

Peggy said the time she and her husband had for the vacation gave her closure in knowing they got to say goodbye.

"You can feel sorry for yourself, but at the same time you can say I had time," she said. "We knew what was happening and we made the best of the two and a half years we did have."

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