Loss Leads To Hope In Wayland Woman's Pandemic Year

WAYLAND, MA — Judy and Bill Currier's 42-year marriage began with a chance encounter, as such things often do.

In Boston in 1973, Bill, a Harvard Business School graduate, was in charge of the Thomas Groom & Co. office supply company. Judy wasn't really looking for a job, but her roommate at the time convinced her there was a position at the company that would be a perfect fit.

"I interviewed with Bill, and he hired me," she recalled this week. "Six months later he bought his first small business, and three months after that he called me and said, 'Will you come help me run this company?'"

That company, Wells Bindery in Waltham, was the first of eight businesses the couple would own together. They married in 1977, bought a home in Wayland and never left. They enjoyed travel, Bill's sail boating hobby, gardening and volunteering in Wayland — he founded the Wayland Recycling Volunteers, helping to bring the eco-friendly practice to town.

In 1999, Bill was diagnosed with a cognitive impairment that grew into vascular dementia. In 2012, Judy retired to care for him at home. By 2016, he needed more intense care and Judy moved him to the assisted living facility, Traditions of Wayland. She would visit him there several times a week.

The last time Judy was with Bill in person was for a nondenominational service that Traditions held each Monday. It was a regular event, and was a highlight of Bill's recent life, even after his dementia worsened in 2019.

That visit was about a week before Massachusetts shut down in March 2020 as the coronavirus infiltrated the state. A few weeks later, the National Guard was inside Traditions testing residents. Bill tested positive for COVID-19 on a Sunday, and on Monday he told Judy he was having trouble breathing.

They had tried video chats when Traditions shut its building to visitors, but he didn't like it. During one chat, a Traditions employee asked Bill if he liked seeing Judy. He agreed, but "not like that" pointing to the tablet screen.

"That was something totally unfamiliar to him, to see me on a screen," she said.

She began visiting Bill by standing outside the Traditions dining room window. He didn't know why their visits changed. She told him it was because lots of people had the flu.

Bill died of COVID-19 at age 92 on April 23, about a week after his diagnosis. The couple had decided Bill would enter hospice care if anything ever happened. The pandemic had already literally forced them apart, and she wanted him to be in a familiar place in his final days, not in a strange hospital bed.

The pandemic grew worse after Bill's death. Massachusetts had its highest day for COVID-19 deaths of the entire pandemic on April 24 when 197 died. Judy couldn't hold a funeral or memorial like normal, and she couldn't seek comfort with family or friends.

She coped with the loss and isolation by planting a garden for the first time since Bill left home in 2016. She went for daily walks around Dudley Pond and along the aqueduct trail.

"I think you just learn how to cope, or you don't learn how to cope," she said. "I generally am an optimistic, upbeat kind of person, so it was just like, 'OK, I'm going to do what Charlie Baker tells me to do, I'm going to do what Anthony Fauci tells me to do.'"

When the first wave subsided at the end of spring, Judy and her across-the-street neighbor started getting takeout from The Villa Restaurant every 10 days or so (enough time to isolate after each visit in case one of them caught the virus). In August, the family had a memorial for Bill at Elm Bank Reservation in Wellesley — one of his favorite nature spots in the area. More than 40 family members and friends attended.

When the virus returned in the fall, Judy knew she had to continue to sacrifice to make it through. She stayed home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, opting for safer, virtual celebrations. She bought gifts online rather than her usual pre-pandemic walks around the Natick Mall.

"I'm happy for FaceTime, but it doesn't hold a candle to getting a real hug," she said.

There are more hugs coming. The Curriers had five children between them and seven grandchildren; now there are great-grandchildren. A great-granddaughter was just born in February, a great-grandson will come in June and a third will be born in the fall.

And, Judy got the vaccine. She will get her second shot March 16.

"Even in the worst year of our lives, love prevails and happiness survives," she said.

There are still things to worry about: coronavirus variants and people spreading the virus over spring break and on St. Patrick's Day. But with cases on the decline and with her vaccination, she's looking forward to the future more than ever. The great-grandchildren, of course, and later a trip to Iceland with her cousin to see the aurora borealis for the first time.

At this point, joy could just be a walk around the Natick Mall without a pang of fear.

"Life goes on, finally," she said. "Hopefully."

Patch is commemorating the March 11 one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic by sharing stories from local residents. If you have a story you'd like to tell about your pandemic year, email neal.mcnamara@patch.com.