After 50 years together, the Jackson couple died from COVID-19 in the same minute

JACKSON, MI – Leslie and Patricia McWaters have built a busy life in their nearly 50 years together.

They loved spending time together and with their friends, dancing where they met at Julie’s Bar in 1971 and throwing pool parties and family receptions, driving down country roads in their Corvettes. 1959 or watching their great-grandchildren in midget quarterback auto races.

It breaks the hearts of their family members to know that they also died together.

Leslie, known as LD, and Pat died Nov. 24 after battling COVID-19 at Henry Ford Allegiance Health in their hometown of Jackson. Hospital staff recorded their deaths at the same time this Tuesday before Thanksgiving, according to their obituary.

“Those of us who know them know mom went first and said, ‘LD, time to go!’” Read the obituary.

Pat, 78, was a surgical nurse for 35 years at Henry Ford Allegiance Health, while LD, 75, was a truck driver and US Navy Reserve veteran.

They were known for their opposing personalities. Pat was a sane person, while LD was a joker. If anyone was sick or injured, Pat would take care of them without thinking. LD’s goal was to make them laugh, her daughter Joanna Sisk said.

“Before he could tell us the punch lines, he was laughing so hysterically,” Sisk said. “I don’t think we’ve ever heard a line to any of his jokes. He laughed, giggled and giggled, tears streaming down his face.

The two were competitive, Sisk said. They loved playing the Mexican Trains domino game and the Hand and Foot card game.

LD also loved weight training. He was Mr. Rose City’s first bodybuilder, Sisk said, and went on to train bodybuilders or athletes in high school and preach an all-natural approach to muscle gain. His impact was so broad in this community that Pat’s nurse at Henry Ford Allegiance Health had already trained with him – they joked that they were the only steroid-free builders in Jackson.

Pat and LD were first diagnosed with COVID-19 on November 12 and 14, respectively, Sisk said. They were taken to hospital on November 17, in the same ambulance. They were never intubated, but Sisk said his father thought the effort it took to breathe and get oxygen was “excruciatingly painful.”

“At the end he said, ‘I have no more fighting in me. I try so hard but it’s painful and exhausting, ”she said.

Sisk said his parents suspected they caught the virus at a restaurant outside of Jackson, where they observed many people without masks and walking between tables to talk to others.

While they took the virus seriously at first, they let their guard down over the months and were inundated by the scale of disinformation and opinions from news stations and social media, Sisk said.

“This is why people are so skeptical and don’t take this as seriously as they should,” Sisk said. “We were those people too. They feel that (news channels) really need to be on the same page. “

Now, Sisk hopes the painful loss of two parents by the family in an instant can be a lesson for others.

As their story goes viral and is featured in multiple media, Sisk said she hopes her parents could be an example of love and fun, but also a warning to take the necessary precautions to avoid transmitting COVID- 19.

“It gave us a whole new purpose,” she said of the media attention. “In the hope that someone else doesn’t have to feel what we are feeling now. This is how my parents were – they helped everyone with whatever they needed at all times.

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