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Elderly Man Wishes Wife Happy Anniversary Outside Care Home Amid COVID-19 Separation

Elderly Man Wishes Wife Happy Anniversary Outside Care Home Amid COVID-19 Separation

OUR HEARTS.

Joanna Freedman

Joanna Freedman

With coronavirus meaning that one man couldn't visit his wife in her care home on their anniversary, he decided to do the next best thing.

Usually, Bob Shellard visits his wife Nancy daily at her nursing home in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, every day - but while the COVID-19 outbreak continues to escalate, staff have restricted guests in a bid to protect vulnerable residents from contracting the virus.

Determined to honour having been married to Nancy for 67 whole years nonetheless, Bob decided to make a sign and hold it up to her window so he still could mark the occasion at the weekend.

The sign, which had a large red heart stuck onto it, read: "I've loved you 67 years and still do. Happy Anniversary."



We're not crying, you are.

Speaking to WNBC-TV, Bob revealed that in all of 67 years he's been with Nancy, he has never missed an anniversary with her.

As he stood outside Nancy's window alongside his daughter, Bob clutched a bunch of balloons and beamed up at her adoringly.

Bob looked up at his wife adoringly (
NECN)

Nancy could see her family from her bedroom window, and responded by gleefully waving and blowing kisses from her second floor bedroom window.

She later told nursing home staff the gesture had made her feel "like a queen".

Speaking about spending the anniversary without his wife, Bob said: "It makes me feel bad because I want her down with me and I know she can't be.

He sweetly added that 67 years down the line, he "wouldn't want anybody else."

Nancy watched out from her bedroom window (
NECN)

"I don't think she could put up with anybody else besides me," he said.

The elderly couple learned they would be separated after Connecticut governor Ned Lamont decided to join New York and New Jersey in closing restaurants and cinemas and limiting public gatherings to fewer than 50 people last week.

Limits on 'non-essential' nursing home visits were also introduced to ensure maximum protection for elderly residents.

The couple's daughter said the romance was an inspiration for her and her siblings (
WTHR)

Proudly looking on at the romantic display, Bob and Nancy's adult daughter Laura said that her parents' marriage was the perfect example of true love for their whole family to follow.

"It's just been an example for us, for all of us of kids," she told the broadcaster. "So all four of us have really learned a lot from them and I can only hope that I have half as much as what they have shared over the years...

"They have always been an inspiration to us and I think just seeing every year go by that they still express it in some way on their anniversary."

This is the heartwarming news we all needed today.

Featured Image Credit: NECN

Topics: News, Cute, Coronavirus