An Edmonton senior who lost her husband of more than 60 years due to COVID-19 is sharing her story of love.
“Allan and I got along very well from Day 1, and I think we loved each other more than most people love each other,” Pauline Oliver said.
Allan and Pauline Oliver were married for 64 years. Together they had four children, who brought them several grandchildren even a great-grandchild.
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Life was going good until a COVID-19 outbreak at their continuing care facility in Edmonton changed everything.
“Both Mom and Dad ended up being positive for COVID and on the 21st of December, Dad, unfortunately, passed away from COVID,” Pauline’s daughter-in-law Eman Oliver said.
But Pauline survived.
Through their entire marriage, Allan wrote Pauline love letters and poems. It was a gesture of love he continued until his last day.
“It must have taken him hours because he had COVID. He wasn’t feeling well. He was very short of breath and quite shaky but he took the time on the day before he passed to write this card, this Christmas card,” Eman Oliver said.
Pauline says she didn’t know about the card until she found it on the day of his funeral. Allan’s last words to his wife came when she needed them most.
“Knowing what it would have taken for Dad to write that much on a day when he was so sick, it was heartbreaking and so amazingly beautiful, at the same time, because you can see the love it would have taken to write that card even on the day before he passed for Mom,” Eman Oliver said.
The family says they found a picture from their honeymoon in Allan’s wallet that he carried with him for 64 years.
The picture is now a memory and a symbol of two people who stood by each other and loved one another until the very end.