91-Year-Old With Dementia Remembers Husband On 72nd Wedding Anniversary In Nursing Home

Dec 09, 2019 by apost team

In a world where 50th wedding anniversaries are heralded as being special, Leonard and Shirley Matties managed to far exceed that. This couple, both of whom are 91-years-old, recently celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary! While Shirley suffers from dementia and is losing much of her memory to the condition, their celebration was proof that she still recognizes the man that she fell in love with so many years ago.

While the couple’s children had been making plans for a anniversary party, they got some extra help from a woman who works as a certified nurse’s aid at Grace Manor Care Center where the couple resides. Nurse Ardis Behrendsen got to know Leonard and Shirley during her time at the senior living facility and quickly became attached to them. When she found out that they were going to celebrate 72 years together, she wanted to make sure that the party was extra special!

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Ardis suggested that she help to make the celebration something to remember by providing Shirley with a pink gown and setting up a photo shoot for the couple. The results were stunning! On October 11, the staff at the care facility joined together to help Shirley dress up in her fancy new gown and then head down the hallway to the room where her husband stays.

Ardis shared about the experience on Facebook, heralding the event as the most amazing day she has had since working in healthcare. She explained that she has worked in the field since she was sixteen years old, and has always been passionate about helping seniors; however, the anniversary celebration goes down in her mind as the most special event so far. Ardis loved helping the couple get prepared for the celebration, dressing and dolling them up. But the best part? Seeing the love and commitment that they still have for each other, even after so many years living side-by-side. "Seeing the look on Leonard’s face when I brought Shirley out was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen," said their nurse on her Facebook.

The care nurse said that she considers Leonard and Shirley an example of what true love really looks like, explaining that they are a couple that focused on loving each other through the hard times and working to repair what was broken rather than simply bailing out.

The loving looks that Leonard and Shirley share are proof positive that the couple is still crazy about each other. 

When they were united for the photo, Shirley’s face filled with instant recognition for her husband and she clasped his hands in her own. Leonard was excited and even laughing when he saw his wife coming his direction.

While Shirley and Leonard spent most of their life on one of Colorado’s Centennial Farms, a farm that has been in a family for 100 years, they had to give the property up 12 years ago before moving to Burlington reports WTHR. Although the move was likely difficult for the couple to make, we can see that the couple is surrounded by nurses that care about them and are helping to make their lives pleasant through retirement. To help celebrate the day, the couple was given a large party that included flowers and old photographs from their earlier days together.

The couple’s seven children were happy with the celebration, and their daughter pointed out how her mom lit up when she got to dress in the gown. She couldn’t thank the staff enough for their help in making the anniversary extra special.

When the couple agreed to let the photos be posted online, they went viral almost immediately. Not only were they shared by thousands of users, but even the media quickly started to take notice. One user commented that love is the only thing that is immortal, and that it obviously can grow even stronger with the passing of time.

The couple was asked about the secret to a love that last and were happy to give some down-to-earth advice. Leonard said that relationships are all about “work” while his wife said that she and Leonard simply “kept going." While these may not seem like words from a romance novel, they certainly have stood the test of time. Their daughter, Carolyn, paraphrased their words with “just keep on trucking," reports CBS.

We are so glad that this special couple has made it for such a long time together and that their love continues to remain strong. What couple do you know that has stood the test of time? Let us hear about their story in the comment section below.