General News
29 July, 2025
‘Now I feel complete’: Horsham couple reunited in aged care
Horsham couple, George and Lesa Lucken, are now feeling complete after living together again in the same room of the Wimmera Nursing Home, ahead of their 72nd anniversary in November.
They are grateful to be side by side after a difficult period apart, as George was falling frequently at home and spent some time in hospital before doctors advised him to move into an aged care facility.
“The doctor kept saying to me that you can fall and you’ll kill yourself,” he said.
“Your hips are already weakening.”
George agreed only on the condition that the facility make some arrangement for a couple to be in the same room; then he would be happy to go there.
George became a resident of the facility on June 6, while Lesa came on July 1.
During those three weeks, Lisa stayed at home alone and found it very hard.
“It was very lonesome at home,” she said.
“It was only me and my cat.”
They’ve now been living together in the same room for the last two weeks, as both were in shared rooms when they moved to the nursing home.
“It broke me in half, and the people here did their very best until they finally got us together,” George said.
“Now I feel complete, after moving into this room with her.”
Lesa is also happy to be together and spend time with her husband again.
“I’m quite happy with him,” Lesa said.
“Just being together, talking, having meals together, watching television shows, and being in the same room.
“There is not much to do, but we fill our time somehow.
“We play a lot of cards and that sort of thing, we play games, we go to activities, and we went on a trip the other day.”
The couple was living independently at their place in town, but when asked about the difference, George said they were comfortable in the facility.
“There couldn’t be a better place,” he said.
“The food is good, the staff is fantastic, and we’re together, and that’s all that matters.
“Whenever we need something, we can just push the button in our room and the staff provides it to us.
“I feel more blessed being in here rather than at home.”
While speaking to The Mail Times, the couple reflects on their life, which began in Holland and their migration to Australia in 1956.
They discuss the years of raising four children while moving around New South Wales and Victoria for railway work, and eventually the retirement years in places like Goroke, Hamilton, and Queensland, before returning to Horsham.
The couple will be celebrating their 72nd wedding anniversary in November this year.
“Sometimes you think, how the hell did we get this far?” he said.
“But you can’t take it away, as we were always close together.
“I love her still, and I keep on doing it.”
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