When Dennis Murphy brought his dad, William “Bill” Murphy, to the Angela Hospice Care Center last fall, they were met with open arms and familiar faces.
Even the room Bill would be staying in was familiar to them both; it was where Bill’s wife, and Dennis’s mom, Wilma, had stayed in 2018. They were struck by serendipity.
Knowing that Bill was going to be in the same room as Wilma was a huge comfort to his family during a difficult time, a comfort that grew throughout Bill’s six days in the Care Center.
“He knew that the anniversary of the date that my mom passed was coming up, and he said to us, and to everybody else, that that was the day he was going,” Dennis said.
Bill did in fact end up passing on the same day Wilma had, November 26 – only four years later.
“He was super,” Dennis said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better parent.”
Even though Bill had grown up with an incredibly tough childhood, that didn’t stop him from being an amazing father, breaking the mold for what he had grown accustomed to as a child.
“It was kind of like my mom saying it’s time to come home,” Dennis said.
He was also the kind of man who clearly left an impression on others. When Bill and Dennis first arrived at the Care Center there were members of the Angela Hospice staff who had remembered him from when he would visit with Wilma, and his room was soon filled with items of remembrance for the life the couple had built together over nearly 70 years.
“They treated my wife so great four years ago,” Bill said. “So, she kind of showed me the way.”
During the last 20 years they were together, Bill and Wilma traveled all over the world, travels that were well documented in photo albums in Bill’s room, with trips to beautiful places like Easter Island, Hawaii, Bora Bora, Paris, and even Antarctica gracing the pages.
Their love of travel grew out of Bill’s interest in… well, everything, wanting to learn as much as he could, and share it with one of most important people in his life.
The couple made it to five continents during their travels, only missing Africa and Australia, although Bill did make it to nearby New Zealand.
It only seemed fitting that the last place they would both travel to was the Angela Hospice Care Center, even if it was years apart.
“It was kind of like my mom saying it’s time to come home,” Dennis said.
Those with loved ones in the Care Center are able to have beautiful moments together, much like Bill and Dennis, thanks to the generosity of Angela Hospice donors.
