Today, we live in a strange new world, where people have loved ones dying and they can’t spend time with them. We’re even having to endure “virtual funerals,” not even able to pay our last respects to the people we love. Who knew we would ever appreciate a funeral? Whoever imagined that we would ever have a time when we couldn’t embrace fellow survivors and family members after losing our patriarchs and matriarchs? As it stands as of today, children and grandchildren are having to say goodbye to the grandparents they love in ways they never imagined because it’s too dangerous to huge our beloved grandparents.
In the late 1930s, before he left to serve in World War II, Wilford Kepler met the love of his life, a beautiful young girl named Mary. The couple was in high school together, and Wilford actually left school to go fight the evil forces of Nazi Germany. However, he was determined to not lose Mary and she was right there with him. While he was fighting in Europe, he and Mary kept their love alive with letters back and forth to each other. As soon as he got home in 1946, he made Mary his bride. For the next 73 years, the two lived out their lives together in Wisconsin, raising a beautiful family and serving as the glue that held generations together.
Wilford fell and suffered a traumatic head injury in April 2020. At that point, Mary had been diagnosed with the deadly COVID-19 and was quarantined at home. However, after Wilford fell, he and Mary were transported to Froedtert Hospital, where he tested positive for COVID-19. Because they both were infected with the virus, medical personnel at the hospital let them stay together in the same hospital room. The staff even pushed their beds together so that they were able to hold hands as they lay there ill.
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This is what a fairy tale looks like. During a period in history when so many people can’t spend precious moments with their dying loved ones because of the risk of infection, this sweet couple was able to cherish those last moments together, side by side just as they always had been throughout their long life together.
