Ohio Couple Kenneth And Helen Felumlee Married 70 Years, Die 15 Hours Of Each Other


Helen Felumlee of Nashport, Ohio, passed away at the age of 92 on April 12, 2014. Her husband, 91-year-old Kenneth Felumlee, died the next morning – just 15 hours after the love of his life and wife of 70 years left him. Such was the love between the couple. Even death couldn’t separate them.

According to the Associated Press, the couple were inseparable throughout their life and held hands at breakfast each single day. Linda Cody, one of the eight children the couple had, tells that around 12 hours after Linda’s passing, Kenneth called up his children and said, “Mom’s dead.” After this, he quickly began to fade away and died three hours later, the next morning. “He was ready. He just didn’t want to leave her here by herself,” Linda said.

While it was a poignant moment for the family, they were happy about the fact that both Helen and Kenneth passed away peacefully within hours of each other. This was because they knew it would have been difficult for either of them to be left back, alone.

Helen and Kenny, as Kenneth was known, met as teenagers back in the 1940s and dated for several years, after which Kenny who couldn’t wait any longer. The two eloped to Newport, Kentucky, on February 20, 1944. At that time, Ohio did not allow couples below the age of 21 to marry. This was just two days shy of Kenneth’s 21st birthday.

A Felumlee family provided photo of the young Kenneth and Helen. AP Photo/Felumlee Family

The couple lived a fulfilling life since then, had eight kids, and after Kenny retired in 1983, traveled all the fifty States – mostly by bus. Kenneth initially worked as a railroad inspector and later became a mechanic. He then switched careers and became a mail carrier at the Nashport post office. Helen was a committed house wife who spent her time taking care of the kids. She and Kenneth both taught Sunday school. While the couple’s health declined in recent years, each tried to stay strong for the other – which is what Cody thinks kept them going.

Kenneth and Helen Felumlee with their family in a December 2012 photo. AP Photo/Dick Felumlee

The news of Helen and Kenny’s closely spaced passing comes a few weeks after The Inquisitr reported about the passing of Frank and Elanor Taylor, a couple who were married 65 years and died six hours of each other. In the past, we had also reported about another couple, Helen Brown and her husband Les Brown who were born on the same day, were married for 75 years, and died just one day apart.

Do you think couples of today will see such strong and committed relationships that last a lifetime?

[Image via AP/Felumlee Family]

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