A love story: Bobby was cruising in a convertible with his friend from work when he spotted her. There was no stopping him. He jumped right out of the convertible and into Irene’s car. That was it. He was smitten, Bobby was in love! 

After over a year, Bobby and Irene, along with Irene’s six children, started their lives as a happy family. 

Irene worked hard at Safeway for 20 years before she retired to clean houses for lawyers while Bobby traveled working for an oil company. Together, they spent days driving around looking for properties to purchase. 

They bought houses and turned them into homes before renting and reselling them. She retired at 80, and he at 85. 

They were married for 60 years. Bobby laughs as he shares that he married her for her beautiful long black hair, and she married him for his car. It is evident that they were connected by more than beauty and cars. Their love was so much more than that. 

As Bobby Tells It… “Irene couldn’t do much for the last five years. She did not want to go to a nursing home. Every day I would help her out of bed and into her chair. Then she had a fall…and then another. I couldn’t pick her up, I had to call my grandson. I told her that she couldn’t get out of bed anymore, it wasn’t safe. So, I started helping her do everything in bed. Then she couldn’t talk, and I knew it wasn’t very long. I would ask her what she wanted for breakfast—Water? Yogurt? Coffee? When she quit coffee, I knew she was done. 

She had told me that she did not want to prolong her life. When it is time, it is time. I was lying in bed next to her, holding her hand, when she took her last breath. She took three breaths, and it was done. I would not have wanted her to suffer.” Bobby’s eyes “got a bit of dust in them,” as he shared. 

“Hospice was a great group of people. I thought it was for the last few days. I didn’t know they would come to my house. I could not have made it without hospice. Irene’s nurse, Deana, knows her business!” 

Irene used hospice services in her home for about four months. She got support from the staff, from Bobby, and from her family that she needed. Her chair still sits in the living room next to Bobby’s, a sweet reminder of their love story. 

We at Central Wyoming Hospice & Transitions envision a community in which the end-of-life journey is embraced as a natural progression of the human life cycle. Where individuals at the end of their lives are treated with dignity, respect, and compassion. To learn more about Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions and the services we provide, click here.