Man married for 67 years finds creative way to visit his wife at nursing home on their anniversary amid COVID-19 quarantine

Bob Shellard of Vernon, Connecticut, celebrated his 67th wedding anniversary on Saturday alone — but he made sure that his wife knew he was thinking about her.

This is reportedly the first time the couple has spent their anniversary apart.

What are the details?

Shellard's wife, Nancy, lives in a Stafford Springs nursing home, which closed its doors to visitors due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Since Shellard couldn't visit his wife in person, he showed up on the lawn of the nursing home with a sign that read, "I've loved you 67 years and still do. Happy Anniversary."

He held up the sign outside of his wife's window for her to see. Nancy was able to see her husband's sign, and according to WNBC-TV, responded by "waving and blowing kisses from the window of her second-floor room."

Shellard told the station, "It makes me feel bad because I want her down with me and I know she can't be."

The couple's adult daughter Laura said that her parents' marriage has served as an example in her own life.

"It's just been an example for us, for all of us of kids," she said. "So all four of us have really learned a lot from them and I can only hope that I have half as much as what they have shared over the years. ... They have always been an inspiration to us and I think just seeing every year go by that they still express it in some way on their anniversary."

Nancy says she 'felt like a queen'

Shellard — who visited his wife daily before the COVID-19 outbreak — told WNBC that he "wouldn't want anybody else."

"I don't think she could put up with anybody else besides me," he added.

The outlet reported that Nancy appreciated her husband's gesture, and told nursing home staff she "felt like a queen."