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Mel and Sue Awes spent the last weeks of their lives in a shared double room in Fairview Southdale Hospital s ICU sedated and on ventilators fighting COVID-19 complications.
The Edina couple began dating when they were students at the University of Minnesota. In six decades of marriage, they had done everything together: moved around the country, raised five children, built careers in sales, amassed a passel of friends.
Breaking with protocol, the hospital staff drew back the divider curtain and placed the couple s beds feet-to-feet, a few yards apart.
In the face of an inhumane disease, it was a humanizing gesture, one that brought their loved ones great comfort. Mom and Dad were Frick and Frack, they were always together, their son Ben Awes of St. Paul explained.