Couple Married for 67 Years Die Together While Holding Hands

In the end, this couple, who were married for 67 years, got their wish of wanting to die together, surrounded by family.

Floyd, 90, and Violet Hartwig, 89, from Fresno, California, got married on Aug. 16, 1947, and died at home on Feb. 11 while holding hands, according to theFresno Bee.

Their family noticed something was wrong when their synchronized breathing stopped. Floyd died first, and Violet followed five hours later.

“They wanted to go together,” Donna Scharton, the couple’s daughter, told the newspaper. “It was meant to be that way.”

Violet had dementia for the last few years, and the family noticed a decline in her health over the holiday season, reported ABC News. Then, in January, Scharton got a call from Floyd’s doctor telling her that her father had kidney failure and two weeks to live. At that point the family decided to put them in hospice together.

When they noticed Floyd had passed, they pushed their hospice beds together.

“They weren’t fancy,” Scharton says. “They were just decent people that were always committed to each other, no matter the situation.”

The couple had three children, four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

“They never, ever asked for anything,” Scharton says. “All they ever wanted was their family, and it was amazing that they got that in the end.”

This story was originally published in People.com