Edeltraud Scheller spent three weeks in the hospital. A conversation about the return to her husband, their daily rituals and what they have in mind.
Photo: Senior citizen facilities of the district of Würzburg
Every day when they wake up, Edeltraud and Heinz Scheller kiss each other. The couple has been married for 70 years. A few weeks ago they were separated for the first time since the Second World War because Edeltraud Scheller had to go to the Julius Hospital because of a minor illness and was thus separated from her “Dickerle” for three weeks. She still calls her husband that, although “I’ve lost so much weight in recent years,” he justifies. After three weeks, the 92-year-old was allowed to go back to the senior center in Estenfeld. Everything had to go very quickly in the car, reports nurse Andrea Wolf, who picked her up. Arrived at the parking lot, her 95-year-old husband was already waiting for his “Muscherle” with a bouquet of red roses at the entrance. As a greeting there was of course a kiss and a long hug.
It is the little nods that the couple keep exchanging that immediately make it clear to you as an outsider: the two are more than one heart and one soul. 70 years after their wedding, they cannot separate at the senior center. They live together in one room. “He is tidier than me, almost too clean,” she describes life in a double room. During the day they are out in the house. “He runs after me all day,” she says – he counters: “I have to run so that she doesn’t do anything stupid.” Wolf also raves about the heartwarming nature of the two.
Daughter informed from the hospital
They get regular visits from their daughter Gudrun. She also looked after her mother a lot during her time in hospital. Afterwards, she called the senior center in Estenfeld every day and reported. Heinz Scheller always knew how his wife was doing, because visits were not allowed due to the restrictions caused by the corona pandemic. After the one-week treatment at the Juliusspital, Edeltraud Scheller had to quarantine again for 14 days. Only then could she go back to her husband. “It was a bad time, but we are happy that it is over,” says Heinz Scheller. His wife quickly put time out of her mind. She can hardly remember the treatment.
“If she makes a mistake in the mesh, there are bigger socks for me.”
Heinz Scheller on his wife’s knitting skills–
Instead, she looks forward to the time ahead, the crossword puzzles she solves every day while her husband reads the newspaper, the evening wine spritzer and the television news that the two watch every day. Edeltraud Scheller also loves knitting and “if she’s wrong with the stitches, there are bigger socks for me,” says Heinz Scheller.
Also when talking in the living area of the senior center, he wears his wife’s self-knitted socks and of course still the wedding ring. “It is now too big for the ring finger, so I wear it over the middle finger,” he explains. The mask and the distance make communication difficult, carer Wolf always helps. Both are happy to be able to take off their masks after the interview, and they are happy about the decision to relax in retirement and nursing homes. There has never been a single Corona case in the senior center. Employees and residents alike are very proud of this.
Photo: Johannes Kiefer
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There are socks and a kiss for the hundredth
The two moved in here two years ago. Previously, they lived in their home in the Frauenland. After his apprenticeship as an aircraft mechanic, he worked in a car dealership in Würzburg, she raised four children as a housewife. Meanwhile, the two grandchildren and even some great-grandchildren, almost too many to keep up, says Heinz Scheller. “We are a large family of 16 people”, he reports, his wife is sure that there are even a few more.
95 is now Scheller, he definitely wants to celebrate his hundredth birthday with his wife, who is three years younger, with the whole family. Edeltraud Scheller already has a gift for her husband: there are new self-knitted socks and of course a kiss.
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Estenfeld
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Tim Eisenberger
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Corona virus
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Spouses
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Spouse
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Familys
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Housewives
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Marry
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Weddings
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Wedding rings
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Hospitals and clinics
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Lips and kisses
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Mothers
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