Dick Meek, 89, and Shirley Meek, 87, died on Jan. 16 within minutes of each other at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
“They never have to go through ‘until death do us part,'” said their daughter Debbie Howell. “They never had to do it because they were together and we are so grateful.”
The couple would be planning their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on January 19, her father’s 90th birthday. “They were so close,” says daughter Vicci Harper.
The Coschcoton couple, Ohio, met in high school and have been together ever since. “You read love at first sight and think it’s not true,” the family said. “Well, that was love for my dad at first glance.” They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on December 22nd.
“They were not your typical 88- and 90-year-olds,” Debbie Howell told CNN. “They were both very, very healthy, very lively people with all their faculties. They went down just as fast.”
The couple tested positive for Covid-19 on December 26 after experiencing symptoms they believe had a cold. After a few days of up-and-down symptoms, they went to an urgent care facility for a Covid test and their health went down from there, the family told CNN.
Dick was admitted to Coshocton Regional Medical Center on Jan. 2 and Shirley followed two days later, the family said. Both struggled to breathe.
As their condition declined, they had to be transferred to a second hospital. At the time, there was a chance the two would be transferred to separate hospitals, but staff helped plead that they would both be transferred to Riverside Methodist Hospital.
“From January 8 until the end, it just went up and down,” Howell said. “There were days that we were really optimistic that they would go through, but their lungs weakened more and more every day.”
When the care team told the family that their parents only had a few days to live, they asked that their parents be placed in the same room. “We didn’t want them to get divorced because it was their biggest thing in life that they would be together,” Howell said.
“We wanted them to hold hands. We wanted them to be together. We wanted their favorite music to play softly in the background,” she told CNN. And the hospital staff made it happen.
A nurse made a two-hour playlist of the couple’s favorite songs and played them while holding hands for the last time. Shirley was the first to pass, and then Dick.
“The nurse put my mom’s head on my dad’s shoulder. And she walked over and she rubbed my dad’s shoulder and said, ‘Dick, you can go now. Shirley is waiting for you,'” Howell said. “And within minutes he was gone.”
The family said they felt happy that their parents were able to succeed hand in hand and thanked the hospital staff for helping them honor their love story.