Just two days before Thanksgiving, a Michigan couple married for 47 years died from Covid-19.
Leslie and Patricia McWaters both died from Covid-19 on Nov. 24 after being hospitalized with the virus, according to an obituary. Their deaths were recorded at the exact same time.
“It’s beautiful, but it’s so tragic. Kind of like Romeo and Juliet,” their daughter, Joanna Sisk, told NBC affiliate WDIV. “One wouldn’t have wanted to be without the other.”
Patricia McWaters, 78, who was known to friends and family as Pat, was a registered nurse and spent 35 years of her career working in the operating room at the Foote Allegiance Hospital in Jackson, Michigan, her hometown.
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Leslie McWaters, 75, also originally from Jackson and known as “LD” to friends and family, was a truck driver and a veteran of the United States Navy Reserve.
Pat, who was considered the boss of the family, was known for her no-nonsense personality, while LD was fun-loving and known as the king of one-liners. He always enjoyed making his friends and family laugh, they recalled.
“Overall, it was give-and-take. They picked their battles,” Sisk told WDIV. “Those of us that know them, know that mom went first and said, ‘LD, it’s time to go!” the family wrote in the obituary.
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They loved going dancing together at the bar where they first met, driving their 1959 Corvette to car shows and playing cards and other games during family game nights. They are survived by their two daughters, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
“It’s tough enough to lose one parent but this was the worst,” Sisk told WDIV. “Our entire family is completely devastated.”
Michigan has reported more than 378,000 cases and more than 9,400 deaths from Covid-19. On Nov. 15, the state announced an emergency order restricting indoor social gatherings and other group activities due to a surge in cases.
