These kinds of stories always remind me of movies. A couple in Florida who were married for 59 years died within moments of each other on Saturday night.
The couple eloped back when she was 16 and he was 19. Apparently they called each other honey so often that one of the grandchildren thought that was his grandfather's name.
Over the past few years the wife began to have health problems and moved into a nursing home while her husband lived with one of their daughters.
Over the past few weeks the husband had grown weaker and on Friday night he moved into the nursing home with her. They had one last night together before they both died on Saturday.
A joint funeral was being held today. I think they would like that.
Awwww, it's like The Notebook =)
ReplyDeleteYou know the family they left behind will be sad, but how wonderful and comforting to know they've moved on with one another!
Although it is sad, at least niether has to know life without the other. Talk about soul-mates.
ReplyDelete...yup, I'm crying.
ReplyDeleteThat was lovely Enty.
I hope their family realizes this is a true blessing, and that's probably how the couple would have wanted it to happen. We need more stories like this one.
ReplyDeleteThat's true love, done right.
ReplyDeleteI've always hoped that's how my man and I would go. After almost 30 years of marriage & a couple more before that, I can't imagine a life without him next to me.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'm not suggesting that this event should happen anytime soon. I'm quite content to wait a few more decades before I'm ready to pack it in.
Aw, that's nice.
ReplyDeleteGreat. Now I'm crying at work. I knew I should have skipped this post.
ReplyDeleteLovely story. But I'm a bit puzzled about the picture...is she sitting on a fence post or something? How is he holding her?
ReplyDeleteSorry, don't mean to make light of a sad (yet happy) situation, but stuff like this drives me crazy! :)
It's nice to know that not everyone is a Tiger.
ReplyDeleteThis has actually happened to two people I know. Two of my co-workers had elderly parents who had been married for many, many years and they died on the same day as well. One of my co-worker buddies flew to Germany to be with her sick father and while she was out there, he died. Her mother passed just a few hours later. Same day.
ReplyDeleteMy other co-workers parents that died the same day were on different coasts and hadn't been married to eachother in several years; however, they had been married for 30 (maybe 40) or so years before they divorced. He got the call about one of them passing in the morning and a second call about the other one later on that same day. Very strange indeed.
I had the most amazing Grandparents ever (They were even in my wedding party). They were married for 67 years and both doing well at home (I lived across the street and checked in on them at least once a day) They had lost 3 of their 5 children all to cancer, but together they made it through. Then my Grandma got sick and my grandpa had to go into a home. I had to fight all the way to our prime ministers office to get them a room together in a nursing home, but finally succeeded. My grandpa died in December and my grandma in January (from being home to passing away 6 months). I knew one couldn't go on without the other. I was sad but glad that they were together again and with their children.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the Kathy Mattea song "Where You Been?" That song used to make me bawl like a baby.
ReplyDeleteI think sometimes two people become one and can't function without the other. I also believe that a person can die of a broken heart.
I don't mean to take anything away from surviving partners who have continued on very well. Some people just can't.
true love...
ReplyDeletei had an uncle who passed away and w/in a yr., his wife died. they were in there late 50's and had been together since there teens...
My great grandparents moved here from Norway and lived right past their 50th wedding anniversary and when my g-grandma past away my g-grandpa followed 2 months later. My grandparents ( their son and daughter in law ) passed a few years ago just 5 months apart. They were both the cutest couples...
ReplyDeleteI love Love. :)
@ kelly - thats amazing what you did for your grandparents. What a great granddaughter you are!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great death. It IS like The Notebook and the Kathy Mattea song, and also another one called "Walking Her Home" (home being heaven). All tearjerkers.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard "Where've you been?"(Mattea) I thought that's how I want to feel with whomever I marry. And I do. I didn't get married til I was 38 (met him at 36) and it was like we were waiting for each other to be ready for each other. We feel like our marriage is a reward for having "challenging" childhoods.
I could live without him if I had to, but I don't want to.
Such a sweet story. Wish we had more of these.
ReplyDeleteSporky, I was confused at the picture too, so you are not alone.
aww,that's kinda sweet and sad.
ReplyDeleteits not just people,animals too.
out here we used to have a seworld type park in Victoria that had killer whales etc. right on the ocean in a cornered off area. well i guess some animal activists had gone underwater and opened an area for them to escape. one tried to get through and got caught up and died..the other whale swam around and died the next day..from heart failure.they were both from the same pod and were mates.
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ReplyDeleteoh Jax that is like that book where the red fern grows - that movie used to make me cry when I was a kid and they made us watch it at school
ReplyDeleteI'm totally convinced, you *choose* when you're ready to die. My mom was very sick for several years and in a nursing home. However bad she had gotten mentally, she was still living a good life. In January, she had a stroke, and we all knew it was the end. Mom held on fighting and fighting, until finally the nurse there told me and my brother to let her know it was ok to go, that we'd be ok and she'd be safe. Within a handful of minutes of that conversation, mom's stats starting going up. And less than 10 minutes later, she passed on. She was absolutely, 100% waiting for us to say it was ok.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, my dad passed away 18 years ago, within a few months of his sister - who was the closest person to him - passing. No question about it, dad didn't want to continue on without his closest friend and sister.
Thank you for posting this, Enty. I have tears running down my face at work thinking about this. But they are good tears.
Yep, in tears here too.
ReplyDeleteMy great-grandma died 6 weeks after I was born and despite having slowly succumbed to dementia, was aware that the next generation had begun and passed on peacefully. Her husband, however, couldn't bear being without her and just over a year later died. On his certificate it says heart attack but my grandma is adamant that it was a broken heart.
I hope one day I find someone that invokes the same reaction in me.
Oh, I hate to hear stories about animals are getting hurt. I like them better than people.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather died six months after my grandmother on what would have been their 65th anniversary.
ReplyDeleteAnd it happens in spooky ways, too, with people who are just friends. I always think of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson who died within hours of each other on the same day, July 4th, on the 50th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence. They had each fallen ill between letters so beyond being very old, (and John several years older), neither had any idea the other was ailing. There's probably a rational explanation (I can think of several) but it does give one pause.
WOW.
ReplyDeletegod knows what he allows, and why. but WOW.
so sad, but so sweet.
ReplyDeleteI hope I go like that.
Wow, what luck (if that's what it is). I really like this story.
ReplyDeleteThis probably means I have issues, but whenever I think about the possibility of getting married some day, I automatically think about how miserable and devastating it'll be if he dies first. Seriously, that occupies my marriage-related thoughts way more than any other aspect.
My grandparents, who are in their mid-90s, have been married 70 years so far.
ReplyDeleteMy other grandfather died just a few hours before his older brother did.
So cute. So wonderful. Keeps me hopeful that there is a love like that out there for me, even at 42.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for their kids who are now orphans. When one parent passes away, it's good to have the other there for support.
ReplyDelete