The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: PegLeg45 on October 20, 2011, 09:28:08 PM
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.................or at least I thought it was...............
Iowa Couple Married 72 Years Dies Holding Hands, an Hour Apart
A devoted Iowa couple married for 72 years died holding hands in the hospital last week, exactly one hour apart.
The passing reflected the nature of their marriage, where, "As a rule, everything was done together," said the couple's daughter Donna Sheets, 71.
Gordon Yeager, 94, and his wife Norma, 90, left their small town of State Center, Iowa, on Wednesday to go into town, but never made it. A car accident sent the couple to the emergency room and intensive care unit with broken bones and other injuries. But, even in the hospital, their concerns were each other.
"She was saying her chest hurt and what's wrong with Dad? Even laying there like that, she was worried about Dad," said the couple's son, Dennis Yeager, 52. "And his back was hurting and he was asking about Mom."
When it became clear that their conditions were not improving, the couple was moved into a room together in beds side-by-side where they could hold hands.
"They joined hands; his right hand, her left hand," Sheets said.
Gordon Yeager died at 3:38 p.m. He was no longer breathing, but the family was surprised by what his monitor showed.
"Someone in there said, 'Why, then, when we look at the monitor is the heart still beating?'" Sheets recalled. "The nurse said Dad was picking up Mom's heartbeat through Mom's hand."
"And we thought, 'Oh my gosh, Mom's heart is beating through him,'" Dennis Yeager said.
Norma Yeager died exactly an hour later.
"Dad used to say that a woman is always worth waiting for," Dennis Yeager said. "Dad waited an hour for her and held the door for her."
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"Grandpa and I were talking this summer about all of the people getting divorced for this reason or that and he mentioned that nobody stays together anymore," Randy Yeager wrote to ABCNews.com in an email. "I told [him] that my wife Mara and I would never be getting a divorce and he said, 'That's because you're old school, like me!'
"That was one of the greatest compliments I could have ever received and one I will strive to live up to for the rest of my life," Randy Yeager said.
The couple were put in a casket together holding hands for their funeral this week, but are being cremated and will have their ashes mixed before burial.
"All their life has been together," Sheets said. "So, when it came to the funeral home, the family asked, 'Can we have them put in the casket together holding hands?' Because that's the way their life was."
more at link:
http://news.yahoo.com/iowa-couple-married-72-years-dies-holding-hands-173218419.html
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Damn it Peg! You always bring on the allergies with your posts. Stop that.
FQ13
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.................or at least I thought it was...............
It is!!!
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Nice story.
Not to outdo the story but I have one similar. Five or six years ago, my wife and her sister witnessed an older couple go off the road in rural MA. They stopped to see if everything was OK and unfortunately, it wasn't. By the time the authorities had arrived on scene, the wife had died and the husband, only worried about his wife, died too. It was something that my wife will never forget as she had comforted them both, gave them a warm blanket we keep in the car and prayed with them.
About a year later, we were at the funeral of our landladies husband and we were introduced to the children of the couple that my wife had helped in their last minutes. It's such a small world as we all know!
They'd been told by the authorities what my wife and her sister had done and words couldn't express their joy that they felt knowing their parents hadn't suffered alone.
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Thanks for sharing Tim.
Nothing like true love!
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Nice story.
Not to outdo the story but I have one similar. Five or six years ago, my wife and her sister witnessed an older couple go off the road in rural MA. They stopped to see if everything was OK and unfortunately, it wasn't. By the time the authorities had arrived on scene, the wife had died and the husband, only worried about his wife, died too. It was something that my wife will never forget as she had comforted them both, gave them a warm blanket we keep in the car and prayed with them.
About a year later, we were at the funeral of our landladies husband and we were introduced to the children of the couple that my wife had helped in their last minutes. It's such a small world as we all know!
They'd been told by the authorities what my wife and her sister had done and words couldn't express their joy that they felt knowing their parents hadn't suffered alone.
Isn't there a Bible quote, "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for a stranger" (or in this case go out of her way for them )
Many would have called 911 and cleared off, some would have clipped their wallets before leaving :-\
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Found a related story that might be the future for this loving couple.
Skeleton Lovers? Couple Held Hands for 1,500 Years
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/22/skeleton-lovers-couple-held-hands-for-1500-years/?test=faces