Judy and Will Webb, both 77, died just hours apart on March 6 after nearly 60 years of marriage
Judy and Will Webb first fell in love more than 50 years ago — and they shared that special connection even in their final moments of life.
The Webbs, both 77, died just hours apart on March 6 while holding hands in hospice care after suffering for years from several health issues, according to WXYZ. They spent almost every day together during their 56-year marriage, until their illnesses sent them to separate hospitals.
“They were never ever, hardly apart. They were always together for 56 years of their life,” the Melvindale couple’s daughter, MaryBeth Webb, said, according to WXYZ. “They were apart in separate hospitals for two months and they’d never been apart more than a day or two.”
Judy’s death began to rapidly deteriorate after a procedure in December that MaryBeth said “didn’t go well,” according to The News-Herald. She got an infection and was taken to a Detroit hospital where she was placed on a ventilator. MaryBeth said her father did not cope well with his wife’s illness and, “from that point on, everything that happened to her happened to him in a different place.”
“She spiked a fever, he spiked a fever. She started getting congestion, he got pneumonia,” MaryBeth recalled to the publication. “She got a reaction from a medication called metabolic encephalopathy, then he turned around and that’s what he had.”
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Ultimately, they were placed in hospice care together. They had their beds pushed together and held hands in their final hours. Will died at 2 a.m. and Judy died hours later. MaryBeth told WXYZ that her mother was speechless when Will died, and constantly rubbed his hand.
“To me, they didn’t want to live without each other,” MaryBeth told the News-Herald.
“I know it sounds crazy, but people can die from a broken heart, and I feel like that’s what happened to my dad. All my mom wanted to do — she wasn’t really responding real well — and I asked if she wanted to just do comfort care and go be with dad. She perked up, shot her head right up and said, ‘Yes, where is he?’ “
Judy and Will leave behind three children, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. The family held a funeral for the couple on March 12 at the Michigan Memorial Funeral Home in Huron Township.