After 65 years together, couple, ages 86 and 83, die on same day

A couple who had been together for nearly 65 years died on the same day at a St. Louis-area nursing home. Jack and Harriet Morrison’s beds were placed next to each other in their final hours, allowing them to hold hands, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Eighty-six-year-old Jack died first. Harriett, who was 83, died later on Jan. 11 in Arnold, Mo.

“I’m sad. But I know they’re at peace and they’re back together,” said Sue Wagener, a niece raised by the Morrisons. “It truly was a love story for the books.”

They met as Harriett accompanied her dad on a trip with his drum and bugle corps. Jack drove the bus that transported the group to concerts. The couple went on their first date on Halloween of 1955. “They went to a little diner and never separated from that day on,” Wagener said.

They married about six months later. Together, the couple ran and grew V-K Bus Lines while raising Wagener and their two sons.

They were active Moolah Shriners, a fraternal order devoted to philanthropy, and traveled the world next to each other, often on Shrine-related trips, including to Europe and Australia.“You didn’t see Jack unless you saw Harriet,” said Wayne Price, a fellow Shriner.

About a year ago, Harriet tripped while walking their dog, breaking her pelvis and hip, Wagener said. She had dementia, and moved into a nursing home. In September, Jack also fell, breaking his neck. He then moved into the nursing home, four doors down the hall from his wife.

Even then, they would nap together, one in a wheelchair, the other in bed — their hands intertwined.