LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — It takes a lot to get an old drill sergeant emotional. For 88-year-old Vietnam veteran Ken Sizemore, it happens when he beams about his kids and their mom, the love of his life, Josephine.
"I just miss them so much,” Sizemore said. “It’s hard to be apart.”
They met while Ken was overseas in Thailand and through most of their six-decade-long marriage, Ken’s deployments were the only time they spent apart.
“Spouses serve as well, they serve our country as well supporting the one that's in the military,” their daughter Jenny Stentiford said.
As heroes age, they sometimes need some more support. For the past two years, Ken has been living at the Baldomero Lopez State Veterans' Nursing Home in Pasco County. Most days are spent away from his way Josephine, who’s not a veteran and has been diagnosed with dementia.
“You're supposed to be married for life, right? ‘Till death do you part. And it's been heartbreaking,” Stentiford said. “Even when we bring mom to visit, that's good, but then bittersweet because they have to say goodbye.”
But soon, they'll start every day, again, with a good morning.
A new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday will allow veteran spouses like Josephine to be admitted and receive care at state veterans’ long-term care facilities.
“When you have a veteran and a spouse, we want to keep them together,” DeSantis said at a news conference held at the nursing home.
“We're one of only a few states that are doing this, but it's the right thing to do, and I think it's keeping in character with the state of Florida, being the most veteran-friendly state in the United States,” he added.
Stentiford said it means the world to her and their family.
“Now that they can be together, and you see how happy they are. I mean, this is a beautiful thing," she said.
61 beautiful years and a lifetime to go.
"l shall never leave you, nor forsake you. Never,” Ken said to Josephine.
The law goes into effect July 1. Stentiford says she expects her mom to move into the facility later that month.
The Florida Department of Veterans Affairs operates nine state veterans' nursing homes across the state and is in the process of building a 10th home in Collier County. Veterans, and now, their spouses can receive skilled nursing, hospice, rehab care and more.
For more information regarding benefits and services available to veterans in the state of Florida, please visit FloridaVets.org. To contact a State Veterans’ Service Officer, call (727) 319-7440 and they will return your call within 24 hours. You may also contact them via email at FDVA.vso@FDVA.fl.gov.
For 24/7 counsel, call the National Veteran Crisis Hotline at 988, then press 1. You may also call the Florida Veterans Support Line at 1-844-MyFL Vet (1-844-693-5838) or dial 211.