VERO BEACH, Fla. — An elderly Florida woman’s birthday surprise from the staff at a Publix grocery store recently went viral on Facebook.
Coraljean Dwyer of Vero Beach turned 83 on Feb. 1 – her first birthday alone since losing her husband of 63 years.
Dwyer’s daughter, Wendy, was out of town and couldn’t spend the day with her. But she called in a special lunch order for Dwyer’s favorite sandwich – and to surprise her, a piece of chocolate ganache cake – to the Publix store frequented by her mother.
The Publix crew, however, decided to go a step beyond for Coraljean Dwyer to make her day even more special.
Dwyer arrived at the deli, waited a few minutes, and a Publix employee approached her, asking if it was her birthday. “Uh huh,” she said, hesitantly.
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“Then he pulls out a dozen roses from behind him, and in the other hand he had a beautiful piece of cake,” Coraljean Dwyer said. “He said, ‘I picked them out like I would pick for my mother.’ And he did – they were the most beautiful roses.”
About a dozen Publix employees gathered around her to sing, “Happy Birthday,” and even a few customers joined in. Afterward, several people went up to Coraljean Dwyer to give her fist bumps and wish her a happy birthday, she said.
She left the store with her sandwich, cake and roses, and, through tears, called her daughter Wendy to thank her.
“I thought I thought for an hour,” she said. “And then I read on Facebook all the people that commented on it. It blew my mind.”
Publix posted Coraljean Dwyer’s story to the company’s Facebook page Wednesday, and to her and Wendy’s shock, it went viral. More than 20,000 people reacted to the post with likes and hearts, and more than 1,500 people commented wishing Coraljean Dwyer a happy birthday.
“It says something about how much we all need goodness and kindness right now in our world, that all these people who’ve never met her could be so kind to her,” Wendy Dwyer said.
It’s been a deeply difficult year for their family after they lost her father, Richard Dwyer, she added.
Richard Dwyer was a disabled veteran and deacon in the Catholic Church. Coraljean and Richard were married for 63 years and lived in Vero Beach for two decades. He was an awesome husband and a fantastic friend, she said.
Last summer, about two weeks before his 40th anniversary as a deacon, Richard Dwyer died of a breakthrough case of COVID-19.
“I loved him very much, and it’s my first birthday without him,” Coraljean Dwyer said. “I could see him up there smiling through all this, too.”
Thanks to the kindness of so many strangers, what could have been the loneliest day of the year turned into one of her happiest memories, she said.
“I will never, ever, ever forget. I wonder when I’ll be at 84, what’s going to happen then?”
Thomas Weber is a reporter at TCPalm. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism