Couple Born On The Same Day, Married 75 Years, Then Die A Day Apart

A couple who were born on the same day and then married for 75 years died this week, just one day apart.

Helen Brown and her husband Les Brown were both born on New Year’s Eve in 1918 and fell in love as teenagers. Their story became one of unlikely love and endless devotion, and news of their death this week has garnered national attention.

The 94-year-old Helen died on July 16 of stomach cancer. The next day 94-year-old Les Brown died of Parkinson’s disease.

The Southern California couple went out just the way they had always wished — together.

“My mom often said she didn’t want to see my father die, and he didn’t want to live without her,” Daniel, the couple’s youngest son, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

But the love story of the couple born on the same day and married for 75 years once seemed very unlikely. They fell in love in high school, but faced great odds. Les was from a well-to-do family while Helen came from a working class background, and their parents thought such a marriage would never work.

Undeterred by their families, Les and Helen Brown eloped at age 18. It was the right decision, because in September the Browns celebrated their 75th anniversary together.

The couple moved to Long Beach in 1965, with Les going to work as a photographer while Helen worked in real estate. Despite their similarities, friend said Les and Helen actually had quite different personalities but they were united in their strong faith as Jehovah’s Witnesses and a friendship that endured eight decades.

“Like the Bible says, ‘They were as one,’ ” said family friend Bob Brobst.

After being born on the same day, married for 75 years, and dying a day apart, Les Brown and Helen Brown were laid to rest together at a joint memorial service on Saturday.