Margaret and Jimmy Shaw died as they had lived – together.
Weeks before celebrating what would have been their 63rd wedding anniversary, the longtime Miami residents succumbed to complications related to COVID-19.
They passed away just hours apart, lying in separate hospital rooms alone and with no family beside them to offer comfort or prayer. It was the final cruelty of a pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 155,000 people in the United States and more than 690,000 people worldwide. [Numbers as of 8/3/20]

The couple’s deaths were not the homecoming anyone would have imagined for them. That they left this earth at the same time, however, was a surprise to no one.

“Those two had been married for so long and were so close,” said Connie Shaw, one of the couple’s three daughters. “We knew one would not stay without the other.”
Margaret Wallace and Jimmy Shaw met 65 years ago at a tiny corner store in a small town in Georgia, a stone’s throw away from the Alabama state line. They were 15 years old. Two years later they married and relocated to Miami, moving in with one of Jimmy’s sisters until they could afford a home of their own. Margaret cleaned houses and later got a job as a cashier at the Food Fair. Jimmy worked as a hospital orderly before discovering a passion and talent for baking, and ultimately mastered his craft at iconic local favorites like Pumpernik’s.
Mr. Shaw died on July 17 at 80. Ms. Shaw died a day later at 79. Jimmy Turner Shaw was born on April 14, 1940, in Shorterville, Ala., the last of 14 children of Mark and Lucy McAllister Shaw. His parents were farmers. Jimmy is survived his three daughters; Lutricia Grant (Sam), Connie Shaw and Kathy Davis (Johnnie), grandchildren; Keota Fields, Tiffany McGee, Ebony Zamora (Harold), Stephanie Ingraham (Charles), Nastassja Dean, Jeremy Campbell (Nicole), Samantha Grant, Jahlani Shaw; plus 11 great-grandchildren and a host of nephews, nieces and 1 godson, Jonathon Sapp.