JACKSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Through the ups and downs, a Canton-area couple were by each other’s side until the very end. After 67 years of marriage, Elena and Spiro Veloff died hours apart, according to News 5 media partner at The Canton Repository.
Elena and Spiro were in it together, raising two daughters, and they struggled with the death of their youngest, Mary, in 2013.
“There were no secrets; it was a unity,” their daughter, Vera Vellios, told The Canton Repository.
Born in Macedonia, Spiro worked several jobs before finding a home at Diebold. As a self-taught seamstress, Elena supported the family by sewing theater curtains at Janson Industries until she was 73.
“They were regular people,” Vellios said.
But things changed in the last several months, as 83-year-old Elena’s memory started to fail. Spiro, 86, hadn’t fully recovered after suffering a stroke.
On Jan. 28, Spiro was hospitalized after his legs gave out. Three days later, Elena died at home on Feb. 1. When Vellios broke the news to her dad at the hospital, she wasn’t sure if he heard or understood, but what happened in the next several hours made it evident to her.
Five hours later, Spiro died.
