Since his devoted wife Lucille passed away in 2013, the holiday season has been difficult for George Dowling, who is now 95 years old. Lucille was the center of his life.
The couple had spent an incredible seventy years celebrating the holiday together, and when she passed away, George felt as if a part of himself had also passed away.
Since that time, he has been going through a difficult time in life, but the pain is most intense around the holiday season.
Lucille was an essential part of Christmas for George, and he couldn’t imagine celebrating the holiday in any other way. When he thought of Christmas, he couldn’t help but reflect on the good times he had spent with Lucille when she was still living. “I miss my wife and the kids.”
Although I have 4children, all of whom are still alive today (thank God), my wife passed away almost ten years ago. “I do all right; all I can say is that I try,” he stated.
Suzan Brito, the man’s daughter, just could not bear to see her father fight through the challenges of coping with his loneliness. Therefore, she made an effort to contact individuals on Facebook and asked them if they would be willing to send Christmas cards for his cherished father.
The first year, they were given around 102 of them, and George was thrilled by the experience.
George was disappointed because he only received 14 Christmas cards the year before, and this number was insufficient to get him through the holiday season.
Therefore, Suzan and her daughter Charlene decided to reach out to people through social media this year, and they were met with an incredible reaction from individuals located all around the nation.
The request was shared by 160,000 individuals, which resulted in an unprecedented flood of Christmas cards being received. “I couldn’t believe it,” Suzan remarked.
“I told to my dad, ‘grandpa, you have so many grandkids now – 160,000 of them.’ – they refer to him as “Grandpa George” all the time.
It was wonderful to watch him feeling glad and thrilled as a result of the thoughtful gesture of these kind strangers, which elevated his mood.
Previously, he had been feeling lonely and unhappy. It was really significant to George.