A photo has emerged of a couple, married for 62 years, who died an hour apart while holding hands and it’s absolutely heartbreaking.
Tom, 84 – and the love of his life, Delma, 82 – from Lake Jackson, Texas died in a hospice on April 21st hand in hand, reports Click 2 Houston.
The couple met in their early 20s through mutual friends while living in Florida and never looked back.
One of their two daughters, Donetta Nichols, recounted their first date:
They drove around two, three different blocks or whatever and they came back and they parked.
He said he reached over and he grabbed her hand and he said, ‘I don’t know what made me do it.’ He said, ‘I just reached over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.’
Things moved pretty quickly for the couple, as just three weeks later, they married before going on to have two children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren over their lifetime.
Once Tom had retired, he and Delma spent their lives touring through the U.S, staying in different campsites and enjoying the last years of their life together.
Sadly, Delma became ill last month and was unable to recover, but their romance survives.
Donetta explained:
They couldn’t get a pulse. They couldn’t get a blood pressure. They couldn’t get anything. Yet mama was just hanging on to something.
It seems that ‘something,’ was her husband Tom, as strangely he fell ill shortly after his beloved wife.
Donetta continued:
We got him over to the nursing home with Mama.
They had pushed their little beds together and Mama was laying right there, facing him. She was asleep and Daddy goes and he reached over there and he grabbed a hold of her hand and he just laid there with her, and it was so sweet.
Donetta said:
It was exactly how they wanted to go. It couldn’t have been any better.
The family they left behind were obviously moved at their sad passing and granddaughter Stephanie Rutkowske took to Facebook to share a tribute to the couple.
She wrote:
Together for 62 years here on earth and now they will continue to share their love in Heaven.
My papa and nanny both passed away today holding each other’s hands a little over an hour apart. What a blessing for them to be able to go together!
Tom and Delma were laid to rest together at Restwood Memorial Park Clute, Texas, side-by-side.
What a heartwarming story. I think there’s something in my eye…
