Coronavirus: Connecticut man celebrates 67th wedding anniversary outside wife’s nursing home

A Connecticut man held up a sign to show his love for his wife on their 67th anniversary. The woman is in a nursing home, which is restricting visitors because of the coronavirus.

Credit: IsabelAlvarez1/Pixabay

Credit: IsabelAlvarez1/Pixabay

A Connecticut man held up a sign to show his love for his wife on their 67th anniversary. The woman is in a nursing home, which is restricting visitors because of the coronavirus.

According to state records, Bob Shellard and Nancy Collett were married in Wallingford, Connecticut, on March 14, 1953. After being together for more than six decades, they had to spend their 67th anniversary apart.

With Nancy Shellard confined to a nursing home, officials at the Somers facility in Stafford Springs have restricted visitors because of safety concerns over the coronavirus, particularly to people 60 and older, WTNH reported. That did not stop Bob Shellard, who came up with a special way to show his love.

On Saturday, on the couple’s 67th anniversary, Bob Shellard, 90, celebrated outside the nursing home with a handmade sign that read, “I’ve loved you 67 years and still do."

Nancy Shellard waved and blew kisses to her husband from a second-story window, WTNH reported.

Bob Shellard spent a week perfecting his poster, which is dominated by a large red heart, "Today" reported.

"It makes me feel bad because I want her down with me and I know she can't be," Shellard told WNBC.

The couple’s daughter, Laura, said she and her three siblings have “learned a lot” from their parents.

"They have always been an inspiration to us and I think just seeing every year go by that they still express it in some way on their anniversary," Laura told WVIT, adding it was the first time the couple had been separated on their anniversary.

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