Couple Married for 72 Years Dies Hand in Hand

This is a true love story. An Iowa couple married 72 years died one hour apart holding hands on Monday after a tragic car crash. Since the day they were married on May 26, 1939, Norma and Gordon Yeager were always together. Their son, Dennis, says his parents believed in their marital vows of "till death do you part."

Dennis Yeager said the couple left home last Wednesday to go into town, but they didn't make it. At the intersection of Highway 30 and Jessup Avenue just west of Marshalltown, state troopers said Gordon pulled in front of an oncoming car. The Iowa State Patrol crash report said the other driver attempted to avoid the crash but was unable to stop in time. "I rushed from Des Moines where I was working and saw them in the hospital," said Dennis Yeager. In the intensive care unit of Marshalltown's hospital, nurses knew not to separate Gordon and Norma. "They brought them in the same room in intensive care and put them together -- and they were holding hands in ICU. They were not really responsive," said Dennis Yeager. Gordon died at 3:38 p.m. holding hands with his wife as the family they built surrounded them. "It was really strange, they were holding hands, and dad stopped breathing but I couldn't figure out what was going on because the heart monitor was still going," said Dennis Yeager. "But we were like, he isn't breathing. How does he still have a heart beat? The nurse checked and said that's because they were holding hands and it's going through them. Her heart was beating through him and picking it up." "They were still getting her heartbeat through him," said Donna Sheets. At 4:38 p.m., exactly one hour after Gordon died, Norma passed too. "Neither one of them would've wanted to be without each other. I couldn't figure out how it was going to work," said Donna Sheets. "We were very blessed, honestly, that they went this way." "They just loved being together," said Dennis Yeager. At their funeral on Monday, Norma and Gordon held hands in their casket. Family said they will be cremated and their ashes mixed together.

source: KCCI

We all should be so lucky to experience this kind of love. Norma was 90 and Gordon was 94. May they rest in peace.