Magical reunion of couple married for over 70 years

A LOCAL couple married for over 70 years have been reunited at a care home in Shaw after four years of living apart.

Terry Eyre, 94, an expert in metals who worked at Brunel University and his wife Jean, 94, an office worker, were reunited after Jean moved to join Terry at the Mavern House Care Home, where Terry now lives. Due to health complications, Jean had been living apart from Terry in a different nursing home and their daughters have been working hard to reunite them.

“There were emotional scenes when the couple, who had celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary (70th), realised that they were back together again,” said Charlotte Cheal, a spokesperson for the care home. “They now spend all their time with each other and do not want to let go of each other’s hands.”

Terry and Jean met at a youth club in Slough. Accident and tragedy brought Terry and Jean’s families to the Berkshire town for work in the 1930s. Terry was born in Wales but the family moved to England after his father was injured in a mining accident. Jean, who was one of three sisters, moved south from Warrington after her father was tragically killed in a motorbike accident when she was only five.

Both clearly remember the war years in Slough and heading to the bomb shelters when the sirens went off.  While too young to fight, Terry did National Service and wrote almost daily to Jean from wherever he was stationed.   

The couple were married in 1952 and went on to have two daughters, three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.  They later moved to Farnham Common in Buckinghamshire.

Despite leaving school at 15, Terry attended night school and became a doctor of science, specialising in metals and their properties and production.  He became a world expert in his field and headed up his own research department at Brunel University.

Terry and Jean’s daughter, Louise Watts, said, “It was so wonderful to finally be able to reunite Mum and Dad. They belong together and we’ve been trying for so long to find a place where they can both get the care that they need and where they’ll be happy.   

“The change in them since they’ve been reunited has been incredible, they are so much happier and more content; it’s so heartening to see.”

Care home manager, Rosie Hardie, said, “It was a privilege to play a small part in the reunion of Terry and Jean. Their evident happiness at being back together has resonated around the home and we are all so delighted for them.   

“They are a very popular couple here at Mavern House and we are looking forward to celebrating their 71st wedding anniversary with them and their family in September.”

Mavern House provides nursing, dementia, residential and respite care for up to 54 residents.