A Michigan couple married for nearly 50 years died at the same time after they both contracted the coronavirus.
Leslie McWaters, a 75-year-old who went by LD, and Patricia McWaters, 78, died last Tuesday at Henry Ford Allegiance Health in Jackson, a city located about 80 miles west of Detroit, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The couple, wedded on April 16, 1973, did “almost everything together,” relatives said.
“It should be no surprise that they went to be with the Lord together within the very same minute,” their funeral home obituary said. “The hospital staff that cared for them, as they lost their battle to COVID, said it was too close to call. They recorded their deaths at the exact same time.”
“Those of us that know them, know that mom went first and said, ‘LD, it’s time to go!'” the obituary added.
One of the couple’s daughters, Joanna Sisk, said her parents likely contracted the virus from dining out because they didn’t like being cooped up at home. She also noted that after her parents got sick, they began regretting their decision.
“People should be worried, and they should be concerned and take it seriously,” Sisk said of the coronavirus. “It’s not difficult when you have to run to Meijer, to put a mask on and do the things that need to be done. I don’t want one other family to have to go through what our family has had to go through.”
The family will hold a funeral service for the departed couple, who were cremated, in the spring or summer.
To date, there have been more than 14.7 million coronavirus cases reported in the United States and more than 270,000 related deaths, according to the John Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.
