'Til Death Do Us Part

They were married on May 26th in 1939 and died within an hour of each other 72 years later. From the Daily Mail:

After 72 years of marriage they had only an hour's separation between them in their passing, yet their locked hands never let go.

The family of the Iowa couple say their life together was a real-life love story, never separated, even after their tragic car accident which sent them both to the hospital.

[...] The very day Norma graduated from high school, Gordon proposed to her, sending them down the isle on May 26th of 1939.

Seventy-two years and four children later, they rarely strayed from one another.

'They just loved being together. Everybody argues once in a while,' Dennis said, but his father would continuously say, 'I have to stick around. I can't go until she does because I have to stay here for her and she would say the same thing.'

Both died from injuries suffered in a car wreck last Wednesday. Both were unresponsive upon their arrival at the ER. They were holding hands in the ambulance and the ER staff did not separate them. Gordon, 94, died at 3:38 PM and Norma, 90, followed him at 4:48 PM.

Just like a woman, always late.

And he was waiting for her at the Gate.

I imagine they are still holding hands.

This is particularly poignant for me. Last April an elderly couple ran a red light in front of my sister and she T-boned their vehicle on a busy MD state highway. The driver, in his mid-eighties, died that night. His wife died two days later. My sister was very fortunate in that she suffered only minor injuries but this has affected her spiritually and emotionally.

The County DA and the next of kin absolved her of any blame. She did not sue the deceaseds' estate. God was extremely gracious, there was no desire and no need to prolong the grief. I pray that they did not suffer as I pray that no one else was seriously  injured in the accident that took the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Yeager.