Two long-married seniors who were left pining for each other after being placed in separate care homes have been reunited, two years later.
Lorraine and Joe Papp were brought together at Holyrood Manor care home in Maple Ridge this week, less than a month after their story was first reported on CTV News.
"We're happy now," Lorraine said. "It's the end of our life – we know that, everybody knows that – and we'll be together. That's what counts."
The Papps, who have been together for more than six decades, were living at the Royal Crescent Gardens assisted living facility until 83-year-old Joe's health started to decline.
He was transferred to Holyrood, forcing the couple to spend many long, lonely months alone.
The facility is only about a kilometre from Royal Crescent, but the divide felt much further because of 81-year-old Lorraine's mobility issues. She did her best to visit him often in her wheelchair, but said the trips were taking a toll.
"It's been tiring, very tiring," Lorraine said. "Other than being exhausted, you get a little upset because you're not together. After so many years it's nice to be together."
When their story first aired, Fraser Health said it does everything it can to keep couples together, but that situations can get complicated when people require different levels of care.
