Northwest Ohio: After 69 Years Of Marriage, Husband And Wife Die Hours Apart

True love sometimes can’t bear the loss of one involved, and such was the case for a Northwest Ohio couple. The husband and wife were married for 69 years and died just eight hours apart while in hospice care, and their close-in-time deaths are no surprise to family and friends, as they always did everything together.

Per the Advertiser-Tribune, 88-year-old Gene Warrington and his wife, 86-year-old Pat Washington, died on December 27 in the city of Findlay in Northwest Ohio. Their son, Phil, was truly not shocked by how they passed away.

“You could have almost predicted it. They did everything in their life together. They were never apart.”

Fox 8 reported that the day before they passed away in hospice care, Washington was able to make his way into his wife’s room. It was then that he visited with her for a few last moments and held her hand.

Phil Warrington said that he knew his father had recognized his wife was in critical condition and didn’t have much longer to live.

“He said ‘life’s not going to be fun anymore.’ He went back to his room. He laid down and decided to die. He did will himself to die. I’m sure of that.”

Gene then laid down and did pass away. A mere eight hours later, his wife, Pat Warrington, passed away as well.

Throughout their life, the Northwest Ohio couple had three children, seven grandchildren, and a dozen great-grandchildren.

Their family says that throughout their marriage, they were almost completely inseparable. They met in junior high school and ended up secretly marrying one another when they were just teenagers. Gene was home from boot camp and then shortly took off for World War II after they got married.

Upon his return, the couple still stayed together and never wanted to be apart. Even when they got older and their health was failing both of them, it was almost impossible to ever catch them away from the other. Phil Warrington said the following.

“He told me that when he came back from war, he knew he never wanted to be away from her again.”

It’s often reported that couples that have spent decades together and one dies, the other usually passes away shortly after. While there is no actual medical condition known as dying from a broken heart, it is something that can be attributed to how these sorts of things happen.

The Northwest Ohio couple is just the most recent story in a line of couples that simply couldn’t live without one another.

[Image via Warrington-Family via Advertiser Tribune]