Widower facing the loss of home
A Peterborough man was hoping to live the remainder of his days with the love of his life, his best friend and wife of 48 years, but her death has left him alone, precariously housed and looking for solutions.
Widowed at Christmas, he wants to stay where he is, but his attempt to pay bills by taking in a boarder backfired. Wayne Blewett, 63, a retired mechanic, and his wife, Debbie Bushey, had lived life like many couples before them. They met, fell in love, raised a family and grew old together.
They had been living in a home on McDonnel Street in central Peterborough for almost a decade before their quiet retiree lifestyle was upended on Dec. 26, when Blewett found his wife motionless in their living room. Blewett had last seen her before going to bed Christmas night, he said.
“I went to take a shower, when I came back down in the morning (Dec. 26), I found her in her chair, she was unresponsive,” Blewett said.
Bushey usually slept in the living room in her recliner because she was up late managing pain from an accident years before, he said.
Panic-stricken, Blewett said, he ran to a friend’s house a couple of doors down. The friend, a registered nurse, rushed back with him and called 911.
Police, ambulance and the coroner all came, he said. There was nothing they could do. She was gone.
Blewett said she died from undiagnosed pneumonia that had complicated her health and weakened her heart.
Devastated, he was lost, heartbroken and struggling to know where to go next, he said.
“It is horrible, sitting here all by yourself, that is why I need to get out of here,” he said. “I can only listen to the radio for so long and the television.”
Blewett said he occasionally finds himself talking to the empty house, forgetting he is alone.
“I talk to myself; I answer myself,” he said. “Try to find a princess, a queen bee, I had one, and (she) is gone.”
Coping with the loss, Blewett said, he is now in danger of losing their home.
Blewett and Bushey were both on fixed incomes, he said. Without her, he is concerned he will end up on the streets, living in the shelter system, if he can’t pay the bills.
“How am I going to find a
place? There are none out there. I’d rather stay here,” Blewett said. “If I move out of here the rent is going to go up.”
In his desperation, he took in a boarder in hopes of paying the rent and other bills, he said. It quickly backfired, leaving him to deal with a boarder with a drug addiction who refused to pay rent, he said.
With the help of some friends, he was able to remove the boarder.
“If I can’t pay rent here and I can’t get someone to move in, I guess I am out, and I don’t know what I am going to do,” Blewett said.
There are many programs in the city to help people who are experiencing issues paying rent, said Coun. Henry Clarke, city council’s housing co-chair.
“We are able to assist through social services,” Clarke said.
Rent subsidies are available to help people who have seen changes in finances and are atrisk of becoming homeless, he said.
“We are now maintaining a by-name list, which will work closely to prevent homelessness and find a place (they) can afford,” Clarke said. “That is doubly traumatic. You lose your spouse then you may have to move. It really tears your heart out.”
People at risk of homelessness or having issues paying rent can go to the city’s social services website to apply for programs at peterborough.ca.