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'Saddest photo ever taken': Heartbroken elderly couple torn apart after 62 years together

Wolf and Anita Gottschalk had never lived apart since they wed 62 years ago.

But that all changed eight months ago when the Canadian couple was separated into two different care homes because the local health authority had no beds available for them to be together.

Now, every time the elderly couple get to see each other it is a tearful reunion.

The couple's granddaughter, Ashley Bartyik, took "`the saddest photo I have ever taken" when her grandparents were brought together recently.

"They cry every time they see each other, and it is heartbreaking," Bartyik said on Facebook.

Anita Gottschalk and her loving husband Wolfram Gottschalk have been married for 62 years. Photo: Facebook
Anita Gottschalk and her loving husband Wolfram Gottschalk have been married for 62 years. Photo: Facebook

Wolfram Gottschalk, 83, of Surrey, British Columbia, was put in an assisted living home in January after he suffered dementia health complications making it impossible for wife Anita, 81, to care for him at home.

Four months later, Anita entered a different facility despite family efforts to keep them together.

The facilities are half an hour apart, with family driving Anita to see Wolfram several times a week.

Wolfram was diagnosed with lymphoma on August 23 and the family is desperate for the two to be together to live out their remaining days.

"I see desperation," Bartyik said. "I see people married for 62 years pulled apart by a system. I see the love they have for each other."

She took to social media to draw attention to the family's plight and said the family had been working to find a care home to accommodate both grandparents. But immediate health concerns led them to be put in separate facilities.

"It's a little bit of a broken system right now," Bartyik said.

She said the first call from the local health authority came on August 25, after the photo received international attention. "We were told he is a top priority," Bartyik said.

She said Anita was more aware of what was happening than her husband. She said her grandfather's dementia was growing and the family was afraid Wolfram soon wouldn't remember Anita.

Photo: CTV News">


For now, Bartyik said in addition to the dementia, the family recently learned her grandfather also has cancer now.

"With the news of cancer, our fight to have them in the same facility is even more urgent," Bartyik said.

The couple met in Germany in 1954 and married four months later. Wolfram was a bricklayer and a shortage of work after World War II led the couple to emigrate to Canada.

Bartyik said her grandparents spoke in their native German in sad situations and Wolfram called Anita "my little mouse" in German. "That's what he calls out when he sees her," Bartyik said.

Ashley Bartyik said she is worried that their
Ashley Bartyik said she is worried that their

She told ABC US that she is worried that their "heartbreak and the stress could literally kill them."

A spokeswoman for Fraser Health Authority, which manages the assisted living residences in the area, said it has been working to get the couple together but space is unavailable.

"We certainly understand how heartbreaking this is for the family," spokeswoman Tasleem Juma told CTV News. "It’s upsetting for us as well."

Juma added that Fraser Health would "continue to work to reunite this couple and hope to do so in the next few weeks."

Anita and Wolf met in Dusseldorf when their families lived in the same apartment complex. Photo: CTV News
Anita and Wolf met in Dusseldorf when their families lived in the same apartment complex. Photo: CTV News

Meanwhile, Bartyik said she and her family will continue trying to get her grandparents back together.

"They've been together since they got married in 1954," she said.

"They're completely infatuated with each other and have been together in sickness and health. They deserve to stay together."