The woman who became known on the internet as the “accidental Thanksgiving grandma” after she mistakenly texted a stranger and invited him to Thanksgiving dinner is now recovering from the coronavirus as she mourns the loss of her beloved husband.
According to the NY Post, Wanda Dench, from Mesa, Arizona, is in the hospital afflicted with COVID-19, and her partner, Lonnie, tragically succumbed to the virus.
Dench gained notoriety in 2016 after she accidentally texted then 17-year-old Jamal Hinton to invite him to Thanksgiving, believing the text was going to her grandchildren.
Even after realizing her mistake, Dench and her family invited Hinton to celebrate the holiday with them— in what’s became a new tradition for both families.
Hinton tweeted to his 50,000 followers that his adoptive grandparents were both fighting for their lives against the coronavirus on April 1st. Days later, he updated his followers with news of the loss of Lonnie.
Twitter has been sending its condolences using the hashtag #RIPLonnie.
