Obituaries

Richard and Esther Wheeley Die Just Days Apart

The Clearwater couple was married for 62 years.

In an age of starter marriages and gray divorces, Richard and Esther Wheeley's 62 years of matrimony was the exception.

In fact their marriage – and deaths just days apart – was so exceptional and telling of a rare devotion that the Tampa Tribune memorialized the Clearwater couple's passing Friday in a column by Stephen Thompson.

Esther died Friday, May 3, at the age of 83. Two days later, on Sunday, May 5, Richard passed away in his sleep at the couple's mobile home in Clearwater. Richard was 82.

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The couple had just celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary the week before Esther's passing.

Thompson writes: "It was love at first sight for the longtime couple. He was an orderly at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich., and she was a nursing student."

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The Wheeleys later moved to Florida in 1979. Until two years ago, they lived together at La Plaza Mobile Home Park in Clearwater. But Esther's health problems required her to move to the Oak Manor Senior Living Community in Largo.

Here is a loving tribute posted in Esther's honor by a friend, titled "Walking in the Rain."

Click here to read Thompson's profile of the Wheeleys.

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