For 33 days, Gary Stone slept in a reclining chair beside his wife’s hospital bed, waking to the rhythm of monitors and the shuffle of nurses entering the room. He stayed with her as doctors worked to diagnose an autoimmune disease and held her hand through each uncertain night.
Stone had known her since childhood, growing up as neighbors on the same street in Weatherly, Pennsylvania. They’d been married for 60 years.
In November 2024, she died. For the first time in his life, Stone returned to their home alone…