Margaret and Jimmy Shaw, Married for 62 Years, Die Apart at 79 and 80

This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

Margaret and Jimmy Shaw grew up with humble means in a Georgia town with no streetlights or indoor plumbing. They were teenagers when they got married — without telling their parents, walking back to their separate family homes from the ceremony. They remained married for nearly 63 years, even seeing their grandchildren go to college.

“It’s a beautiful love story,” their granddaughter Tiffany McGee said.

But it was one with an ending unique to 2020. They died of the coronavirus within 24 hours of each other, in separate hospital rooms, without relatives or friends around them. Ms. Shaw, who did not own a cellphone, did not even know how her husband was faring while they were hospitalized in North Shore Medical Center in Miami. “But when he made his transition, I think she knew,” Ms. McGee said.

Mr. Shaw died on July 17 at 80. Ms. Shaw died a day later, at 79.

In addition to Ms. McGee, they are survived by three children, seven more grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, as well as a sister on Ms. Shaw’s side and two sisters on Mr. Shaw’s.