WALTHAM, Mass. — A Waltham couple married for 73 years died just four days apart at the ages of 100 and 101, leaving behind a legacy of how to live and especially how to love.
Arthur and Norina “Nora” Fitzmaurice met when they were kids and fell in love as teens.
“Mom and Dad met when they were about 12 years old. At age 16, not far from here just down the street, they sat on a stone wall and Dad asked Mom to go steady,” the couple’s daughter, Anne-Marie Anthony told Boston 25 News from the living room of the home where she grew up. “I know my mom would talk about [how] she would wait on the corner for him, and he would carry her books to school.”
Only World War II could delay Arthur and Nora’s wedding. Arthur spent nearly four years in England in the Air Force. They wrote to one another until finally tying the knot in 1948.
“They promised each other that they were the love of their life and they would be together forever,” Anthony said. “And they lived that life.”
The couple – he, a pharmaceutical salesman and she, a homemaker – settled in Waltham, feet from a park where Arthur would co-found Warrendale Little League baseball. There, they raised Arthur Jr., Anne-Marie and John.
Through the decades, they welcomed three grandchildren and one great granddaughter. Their children attributed their long lives to healthy lifestyles – Arthur played in a men’s softball league through his mid-70s.
“They were the happiest when they were with their family,” Anthony said. “The older they got, the happier they were when they had their family around them.”
Inseparable, as time went on, each had the same wish.
“I would pray with each of them… Daddy’s last prayer before he would go to sleep would be, ‘Dear Lord: Please, take me tonight, and take Mama with me.’ And that was his greatest wish,” Anthony said. “And the Lord gave him that wish. And I couldn’t be happier for them. As sad as we are, I am very happy for them.”
In late January, Arthur died at 101 years old. Four days later, his bride took her final breath, unaware her husband was already there waiting for her.
“When John found Daddy, he was kneeling beside the bed as if he was praying,” Anthony said.
“That’s a blessing to me that they never had to go through the sadness of one without the other, because it would’ve been tragic for either one of them,” her brother, John, added.
The couple’s funerals were held together, their caskets side by side in the church as they had been most of their lives.
“They went down [the aisle] in 1948 together to start their married life together,” Anthony said. “And then, [they] went down that aisle one more time to start their eternal life together.”
0 of 4
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2022 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
