An elderly couple who’ve been married 66 years was reunited this week after spending the last 100 days apart due to coronavirus restrictions, the Evening Gazette reports
George Bell, 89, and his 87-year-old wife Joyce, were both admitted to James Cook University Hospital in June after contracting COVID-19. They spent the next four months recovering in separate rooms at the Tollesby Hall Care Home in Middlesbrough, a town in North Yorkshire, England.
One hundred days later, they were reunited.
“I felt like a girl again,” said Joyce, describing how she felt to be reunited with her husband. “I’ve loved the socks off him since I was 17. I can’t tell you how nice it was to see him again.”
Joyce added, “I told him I’d always be there for him, no matter what. He held me tight and said he’d never leave me again for the rest of his life. Now we just sit quietly holding each other’s hand.”
George and Joyce Bell grew up next door to one another in Middlesbrough, before they tied the knot in 1955.
“My mum used to call him ‘The big daft lad on the motorcycle,’” Joyce said. “I admired him from afar.”
When asked about the secret to a long, prosperous marriage, Joyce replied: “Let them have their own way and put your foot down, you have to with George.”
