TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. — Standing outside a hospice window is not how Javier and Raquel Ruiz imagined they’d spend their final moments with their parents. 

“it’s heartbreaking. But it’s peace to us knowing that they are going together,” Raquel said.


What You Need To Know


  • Nemesio, Celina Ruiz contracted COVID-19 earlier in June

  • Couple married 67 years, emigrated from Spain in 1968

  • Couple spent final moments together at LifePath Hospice

  • More coronavirus stories

Javier’s parents, Nemesio and Celina Ruiz, were married 67 years. They moved to the Bay area in 1968 from Spain. Nemesio worked as a salesman for Kane’s Furniture for more than 30 years.

Now both well into their 80s, their long lives together came to an end due to coronavirus.

“My mom went into the hospital. It looked she had a stroke," Javier explained. "They did all this testing. It wasn’t a stroke. It was COVID."

Nemesio and Celina both came down with COVID-19 earlier in June.

Doctors at Brandon Hospital tried everything to save them, but the difficult decision was made to move the husband and wife into LifePath Hospice in Temple Terrace.

Arrangements were made there for them to stay in the same room together.

“it’s sad that they got COVID at the same time," Javier told us. "I’m losing them both at the same time. But knowing that they’re together and leaving at the same time makes me feel better. That’s the way they would’ve wanted it also."

Javier and Raquel Ruiz outside Javier's parents' room at LifePath Hospice in Temple Terrace. (Tim Wronka/Spectrum Bay News 9)

It’s been a trying few months for staff at LifePath, as most families are kept separated due to the pandemic.

That was not the case this time.

“Stories like this just keep us going," said hospice executive director Melody Stried. "That’s why we do what we do. That’s why hospice is a calling and that’s why we’re so passionate about it.” 

While the Ruiz’s long love story is sadly at its end, their children want others to know it doesn’t have to be this way for everyone.

They want others to follow all precautions to keep each other safe.

“It’s very scary. People say the media exaggerates it, but they’re not,” Raquel said. “You can ask us. We know. We lived it for three weeks.”

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