ONLY ON 13: Man dies in bee attack while protecting his wife

HARDIN, TX (KTRK) -- Frances Chapman is now alone at her Liberty County home outside Hardin, after losing her husband, 74-year-old Jerry Chapman. They were in Uvalde County for Labor Day Weekend hunting when Jerry was attacked by a swarm of bees.

"He said baby don't come out, don't come out," recalls Frances, "The bees are eating me up, I need to go to the hospital."

She said the bees made a home on the outside of their travel trailer, in a storage box. Jerry, an avid outdoorsman, put on a bee suit and tried to get rid of them.

"I looked outside," said Frances, "His hood and his gloves were off and I knew they had got after him."

Jerry was able to get in his pickup, and another hunter went back later for Frances. She was shocked by the sight of her husband at the hospital.

"I knew it was bad," she said, "Over a thousand stings on his neck, face, and hands."

"He might have known they were in there, but he didn't know they were that big," said Claude Griffin of Gotcha Pest Control.

He wants people to know that a bee suit doesn't always protect you, even if you're a professional.

"Even in a good suit, when you get hit like that, when they hit you, I walk away," said Griffin.

That's why Frances is telling her story now. She hopes the tragic way she lost her beloved husband of 53 years can be avoided by someone else.

"If I could help keep somebody from getting stung, I'd like to."