Two New Jersey soulmates who were married for more than 20 years died of coronavirus less than two weeks apart, their family has revealed.
Newark-born tennis pro Sid Schneider died Sunday after testing positive for COVID-19 — just 12 days after losing wife Mikki, who succumbed hours after she was confirmed infected, relatives told the Daily Voice.
“They say that true love never dies,” said Mikki’s granddaughter Hayley Davis. “For my grandparents, this was true.”
The Springfield couple were such soulmates — always “thrilled to be together” — that they would have hated “being here without the other,” Davis insisted.
“As sad as it, it’s better they’re together,” Davis said. “I just think they truly could never be apart.”
The couple — called “Papa Sid” and “Bubbie” by their grandkids — had met 30 years ago and married in 1999, their obit says. Both had children from previous marriages.
“They hung on each other’s every word,” David told the Daily Voice.
“She was always in the kitchen cooking, he was watching her with a gaze. Every time he spoke, she was just enthralled with him. They were really important to each other.”
They spent the last few years in an assisted living facility together after Mikki was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the summer of 2017. She had been the first to fall sick, but returned home after testing negative for the bug after an initial hospitalization on March 25. She then tested positive on April 7, dying later that day, Davis revealed.
Sid then tested positive and died while the family was still grieving.
Mikki is survived by three children and six grandchildren, while Sid had two children and three grandchildren.
Davis used the heartbreak to warn friends on Facebook that COVID-19 “is very, very real.”
“Do your part and maintain your distance so we can all return to normalcy. My family lost two very important people to this,” she said, pleading, “Please stay safe.”