Couple married for 66 years who were apart for 100 days tearfully reunite
A couple who have been married for more than six decades have been reunited after ill health and restrictions kept them apart from one another for 100 days.
George Bell, 89, and his 87-year-old wife Joyce, from Middlesbrough, got separated when both were admitted to hospital.
A combination of coronavirus restrictions and their separate recoveries kept then them apart for 100 days.
But now, the couple, who have been married since 1955, have been brought together again in a tearful moment at a care home.
Joyce had previously told George that if he had to be taken into a care home she wouldn’t follow him.
But when she was discharged from James Cook University Hospital into Tollesby Hall Care Home and then told her husband would be joining her soon after, she was delighted.
Joyce told staff she couldn’t sleep for excitement at the prospect of seeing George and she felt ‘like a young girl again’.
She said: ‘I can’t tell you how nice it was.
‘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.’
The couple grew up in Middlesbrough and lived on the same street, next door but one from each other.
‘My mum used to call him “the big daft lad on the motorcycle,”‘ Joyce said.
‘I admired him from afar.
‘He made everyone call him George, he didn’t like Mr Bell, he didn’t like a fuss.’
The couple married when Joyce was 21 and George was 23 at St Cuthbert’s Church on Newport Road, which no longer exists.
After his National Service at the start of their marriage, George worked as an electrician and would make life-sized models of engines as a hobby.
Joyce worked as a mobile window dresser and would go around all the big towns in the area to create the displays.
When she turned 65, she didn’t want to retire because she loved her job so much.
Before they were admitted to hospital they lived in a bungalow in Marton.
‘I made him make me a promise,’ Joyce said.
‘I told him if he ends up going into a home that I’m not going into one.’
But now they are in a nursing home to recoup from their stays in hospital, and the pair are both pleased with how well they are being looked after.
Each day staff take Joyce, who is recovering from a broken hip, downstairs to visit George.
When asked what the secret to a long marriage is, Joyce said: ‘Let them have their own way and put your foot down, you have to with George.’
Rachel White, activities at Tollesby Hall Care Home, said it had been an emotional moment to see the couple reunited after so long apart.
She said: ‘It was very emotional when we brought them together for the first time, not just for them but for all the team here at Tollesby who are looking after them.
‘It was such a heart-warming moment to be a part of and moved many of us to tears.
‘With the support of the team here at Tollesby we are looking at getting them back in their home where they can return to their life together to carry on their fairytale.’
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