A Vancouver couple who were married for 49 years both died from COVID-19 in early December.
Stanley Alfred Clifford and Leona Clifford passed away just nine hours apart.
“They were such loving, kind, energetic, very selfless and giving people,” their granddaughter Leila Ang told Global News.
“We were so grateful to have had them in our lives.”
Stanley, who was born in Vancouver on Aug. 15, 1929, was 91 years old. Leona was born in Leroy Saskatchewan on Aug. 3, 1930 — she was 90 when she passed away.
The couple were married on Nov. 5, 1971, and were dedicated members of the Collingwood Baptist Church. Between them, they had three children, seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Ang said her grandpa moved into a care home first, after being diagnosed with leukemia. Her grandmother was then diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and was moved into her husband’s room at the care home just over a year ago.
They both contracted COVID-19 about a week before they passed away, Ang said.
“My grandpa was confirmed first and then shortly after my grandma was confirmed — she had it as well.”
Ang said over the week it seemed like they would get better and then get worse again. Stanley passed away on Dec. 8, followed by Leona on Dec. 9.
“I can’t believe it was within nine hours of each other, it’s pretty incredible,” Ang added.
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Ang said due to the pandemic, only one family member was cleared to visit so she had not seen her grandparents in person for months and it was hard because she’s not sure if her grandparents really understood what was going on.
When it comes to remembering her grandparents, Ang said she remembers most how generous they were, particularly when it came to their time.
“They gave so much of their time and their love to their family and their community and their church.
“And they are missed so much already.”
The B.C. government said last week it will once again be reporting the number of COVID-19 cases at individual care homes and assisted-living facilities.
In the fall, the province stopped the practice of notifying the public on how many cases of the virus had been detected in each care home. Instead, the province provided the overall number of cases linked to both residents and staff at long-term care facilities.
The initial reporting from the province shows 602 residents have died from COVID-19 in assisted living and long term care.
Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said as the number of cases in long-term outbreaks grew, health officials had to supply aggregate numbers on long-term care outbreaks on a daily basis and then periodically provide more detailed statistics.
“It’s not a policy change,” Henry said last week. “It was merely trying to keep up with the amount of data that we were trying to collect.”
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