‘Perfect couple’ died from Covid just days apart
A DEVOTED couple who had been married for more than half a century died of coronavirus just 14 days apart.
David, 76, and Maria Emmott, 74, celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary together on September 28 with a trip down to their local pub for a quiet drink.
But just a few weeks later on October 18, David, a great-granddad and retired toolmaker, lost his life to Covid-19 after spending three days in intensive care.
David had tested positive for coronavirus after his doctors discovered he had a high temperature during a chest clinic for his COPD, nine days before his passing.
His family said he had the flu jab a week earlier and showed no obvious symptoms.
But after two weeks in self-isolation, on October 15, he called for an ambulance because he could not breathe.
While David was being treated in hospital, the couple’s granddaughter Catie Wells and her auntie were able to visit him. But his wife Maria could only talk to him over a video call. He died three days later. Days after David’s death, Maria collapsed at home and was taken to hospital, where she too tested positive for Covid.
Just two weeks after losing her husband, Maria died on November 1. Devastated Catie, 31, who lived with the couple when she was a child, believed the pair were made for each other.
She said: “It was just heart-breaking. My auntie said it felt like she lost her best friend when my grandma died and that’s how I felt too.
“I would talk to her every day without fail, even if she was busy or having her tea, she’d let her food go cold and talk to me.
“She was everyone’s best friend, always there for everyone.
“My granddad said to nurses in the hospital ‘I love my girls’. They were just perfect for each other.”
Recalling the moment she received the news that her grandma had collapsed, Catie believed it was down to heartbreak: “When my grandma collapsed, we thought it was just grief. She was very weak and she wasn’t eating, but she went into hospital and tested positive.”
The couple, who married in 1968, were buried in a joint funeral in their home town of Oldham with just close family and friends able to attend.
They were just perfect for each other Catie Wells, granddaughter of David and Maria Emmott