London, April 3 (PTI): A British couple married for over 70 years died within four minutes of each other. Wilf Russell, 93, died at a care home after battling dementia, which had resulted in him no longer being able to recognize his wife.
Wilf's wife Vera, 91, passed away at a nearby hospital after falling ill since her husband "stopped remembering her."
Frail Wilf breathed his last at Magna Care Home in Wigston, Leicestershire, at 6:50am last Wednesday, while Vera was pronounced dead four minutes later at Leicester Royal Infirmiry.
Their granddaughter Stephanie Welch told Leicester Mercury, "My grandad was diagnosed with dementia a year ago and he had to be taken to the care home a couple of months back. My grandmother went to see him recently and he didn't recognise her at all -- her health started deteriorating from that day."
"I went to visit her at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Sunday and as soon as she opened her eyes, she asked me where Wilf was. The last thing she said to me was, 'We're a right pair, aren't we?" Welch said.
"He died at 6:50am and she died at 6:54am without being told about Wilf. I think she was waiting for him to go. She was heartbroken," she said. Wilf had met Vera when he was 18 and she was 16 and they got engaged before he went to North Africa during World War-II. They married each other when he returned home and Wilf worked as an engineer in the West Midlands.
Wilf and Vera moved to Oadby a decade ago to stay near their son in Leicestershire. Welch said they were always a very close couple who adored their family. "They had a lot in common and never spent a night apart throughout their marriage until Wilf was moved into the care home," she said.
