Jack and Harriet Morrison, who had been married for more than six decades, died just hours apart earlier this month at The Woodlands, a skilled nursing center in Arnold.
The two, who previously lived in Oakville, met in 1955 and married about six months later. They spent the next 64 years together and then died on Jan. 11.
Jack was 86, and Harriett was 83.
The Morrisons had rooms on the same floor at the nursing home, but the day before their deaths, the nursing staff called the Morrisons’ niece, Sue Wagener of St. Louis County, and asked if it would be OK to move the couple’s beds next to each other in the same room since Harriet seemed near death.
“And I said, ‘Oh, my God! There’s nothing that would make me happier,’” Wagener said.
As it happened, Jack died first, in the early hours of Jan. 11.
The couple were holding hands when he died. Then Harriet died that afternoon.
Wagener said Harriet had been there for about a year after she broke her pelvis and hip.
Jack moved to a villa at The Woodlands to be close to her, and then about six months ago, he fell and broke his neck and was moved to the nursing center as well.
Agata Carr, a CMT at The Woodlands, said the Morrisons were clearly in love.
“They both adored each other and loved spending time together,” Carr said.
Even after Jack Morrison was unable to leave his bed, the nursing staff would help Harriet into her wheelchair and take her to her husband’s room to visit.
They would hold hands the entire time, Carr said.
She said she wasn’t surprised the couple died on the same day.
“You know what? We all kind of had a feeling it was going to happen because they’d been together so long. We just knew it was going to happen because when he passed away, she completely stopped responding.”
Wagener said she was raised by the Morrisons and calls herself their “bonus daughter.”
“They were so wonderful,” she said. “I miss them so much.”
Wagener said she spent eight to 10 hours at the nursing center every day while the Morrisons were there. She said she will always be grateful for the care they received.
“The nursing staff was wonderful. They made sure if Mother was having a good day, she would see Pop.”
She said the Morrisons were always together and were devoted to each other. “It’s just a love story. I just wish everybody could witness it.”
During their working years, the Morrisons ran a family business, a charter bus company called V-K Bus Lines. In addition to Wagener, they had two sons, James Morrison and the late John J. Morrison III.
Graveside serves were held Jan. 15 for the Morrisons, and they were buried together at Parklawn Cemetery in St. Louis.