Jan 21, 2020

Elderly Couple Die Together Holding Hands In Nursing Home

An elderly couple in the US had their nursing home beds pushed together in the final moments of their lives allowing them to hold hands as they both passed away within hours of each other on the same day.

Jack and Harriet Morrison were married for over 60 years and shared a relationship that could only be described as a fairytale.

The couple first met in 1955 as a young Harriet accompanied her father on a bus trip with his marching band, and at that time, she would have been unaware that her future husband was actually driving the bus.

They had their first date at a diner on Halloween of the same year, and from that point on they were completely inseparable.

Jack and Harriet spent their middle years running a bus company together and raising a family that consisted of their two sons and a beloved niece.

They were also active members of an organisation called the Moolah Shriners that are devoted to improving the lives of other people around the globe.

Jack and Harriet were also lucky enough to travel the world together and visited a number of different continents including Europe and Australia.

In the latter stages of their lives, Harriet developed dementia and had a nasty fall while out walking the dog that resulted in a broken pelvis and hip.

Harriet was then moved into The Woodlands of Arnold nursing home in St Louis.

Sadly, Jack was having trouble at home in his wife’s absence and was convinced to move into the same nursing after having a bad fall that broke his neck.

According to an interview with the couple’s niece, Jack’s room was only four doors from his beloved wife and the pair would nap side-by-side, one in a wheelchair and one in the bed with hands intertwined.

“Some days she knew him; other days she didn’t,” said the couple’s niece Sue Wagener.

After receiving the news that his wife had stopped eating on Christmas Eve, Jack also began to reject food and liquids.

Just over two weeks later, 83-year-old Harriet was moved into the same room as her beloved 86-year-old husband Jack where the couple held hands for one final time before taking that big step into the afterlife – together, as man and wife.

 

Istock Image: credit – PeopleImages

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Search called off for elderly man who fell overboard

The search for an elderly man who went overboard from the Sun Princess cruise ship on Saturday has been called off. The tragic incident, which occurred about 100 nautical miles south-east of Singapore, happened at about 1.30pm on Saturday. Cruise company, Carnival Australia, said CCTV footage showed the man, who was in his 80s, appeared... Read More

Would you risk your marriage to care for your ageing parent?

A man is asking for advice after he refused to bring his elderly mother to live with him and his wife, fearing constant arguments and financial strain. Was he right or heartless? Read More

It’s never too late to marvel at the normal

  The other day I was reading (in The Sun-Herald’s Sunday Life) a moving extract from a book – Special – by Melanie Dimmitt, a mother of a sweet young child with cerebral palsy. At the end of that extract, she quotes an observation by Nia Wyn, another mother of a child with the same... Read More
Advertisement