A couple who have been married for over six decades, died a heart-wrenching few hours apart as they held hands in their hospital beds.
Dolores Winstead, 83 and her husband Trent, 88, from Tennessee, died together just weeks before their 64th wedding anniversary. A few days before the elderly couple sadly passed away, Dolores – who’s health was initially fine – stood next to her husband’s hospital bed as his kidneys were failing.
Dialysis treatment had weakened his heart until he was transferred to intensive care but not long after his tragic deterioration Dolores complained of a headache and started to vomit, the Daily Mail reports.
Dolores suffered a severe brain aneurysm and was put onto a ventilator herself with hospital staff placing the couple in the same room so they could spend their last moments side-by-side.
In a tear-jerking image, Trent can be seen to lean over and hold his dying wife’s hand before she passed away just two days later.
Their daughter Sheryl said:
Because she was gone, he just could not handle it. We just watched him die.
She believes her octogenarian dad died of a broken heart, after his wife passed away by his side.
She continued:
I hadn’t thought about it this way at the time. (He) literally, he died of a broken heart.
Never in a million years did I think I was going to come out of the hospital with neither one.
The loving couple met in the 50s and sent each other love letters while Trent was serving in the Korean war, but as soon as he touched down on American turf, he proposed to Dolores.
They had two children, three grand-children and eight great-grandchildren, who described the couple as being ‘polar opposites.’ The funeral was held for the couple last week, with Dolores in a pink casket and Trent in a blue one.
Their touching story really does show how powerful love for another human being can be. These two were clearly soul mates and couldn’t be without each other.
RIP to the Trent and Dolores.
