DALLAS — For almost three weeks now, the Whole Foods Market on Abrams Road in Dallas hasn't felt whole.
That's because 47-year-old Basil Braxton Love -- the Lakewood location's beloved cheesemonger -- died October 27 while working his job.
"It's the worst, the worst, the worst…" his widow Suzan Mackay said.
Mackay told WFAA that Love leaves behind their 8-year-old son Oliver, and the countless customers who became his family over the years.
Love was well-known in the community, which adored him for the pride he took in his job.
The higher-ups at work loved him, too, even letting him make a business card where he called himself the "mysterious cheese whisperer,'" Mackay said.
Love got a kick out of the way his customers appreciated the help he offered them with their cheese selections.
"He always posted pictures with these gigantic wheels of cheese," Mackay said,
But Love was especially appreciated, Mackay said, for the care he showed those who entered the Lakewood Whole Foods.
"He talked to them about their children, their lives, their businesses, their animals, their worlds," Mackay said.
Mackay said Love died from a cardiac episode that he suffered while at work.
He was so beloved by the community, that a GoFundMe launched by the community has already raised a whopping $37,000 -- and counting -- to help support the family he leaves behind.
"What’s happening now is that those people are seeing this and saying, 'Oh, not him,'" Mackay cried. "They may have never met me, but they know me and Oliver from him."
Mackay does not work. Instead, she spends her days homeschooling her son.
The money donated to the GoFundMe, she said, will serve as a cushion while she finds work and grieves.
"It means I can relax for a minute…" Mackay said, crying.