Gene and Pat Warrington, who were married for 69 years, were inseparable, even until death.
The couple both passed away on December 27 just 8 hours apart in a hospice in Findlay, Ohio, the Advertiser-Tribune reports.
According to their son Phil, 88-year-old Gene and 86-year-old Pat were both suffering from health problems. Days before their deaths, Gene was able to spend some time with his wife in her room.
"We were able to get them together for about 45 minutes and he held her hand," Phil said.
Phil told the Advertiser-Tribune that Gene sensed that Pat was in critical condition, so his father returned to his room and pulled out all his intravenous tubes.
"He said 'life's not going to be fun anymore,'" Phil told the Associated Press. "He went back to his room. He laid down and decided to die. He did will himself to die. I'm sure of that."
Eight hours after Gene passed away, Pat followed suit.
"You could have almost predicted it," said Phil. "They did everything in their life together. They were never apart."
The couple met and fell in love when they were in junior high school. The two secretly wed when Gene was home from boot camp before leaving for World War II. Gene was 18 and Pat 16 at the time.
They kept the marriage a secret so Pat could graduate from high school. When Gene returned from the war, he was able to graduate just a year after Pat's graduation.
"He told me that when he came back from war, he knew he never wanted to be away from her again," Phil said.
The couple went on to have three children, seven grandchildren and a dozen great-grandchildren.
There are other couples married for decades who have died in similarly touching fashion. Don Simpson, 90, and his wife of 62 years passed away just 4 hours apart, while Kenneth and Helen Felumlee, who were married for 70 years, died within a day of each other.
