Couple who met on blind date in 1940s die on same day after final nap holding hands
A couple who met on a blind date in the early 1940s and were then married for 71 years spent their final moments together, both dying on the same night.
World War II veterans Isabell Whitney and Preble Staver died on October 25 after they hugged each other and held hands one final time.
The two met on a blind date when they were both studying in Philadelphia in the early 1940s, Good Housekeeping reports.
Their love was interrupted by war at that time, with Mrs Staver working as a Navy nurse and Mr Staver joining the US Marine Corps.
They were married not long after the war in 1946 and had five children in total.
The couple's daughter Laurie Clinton described her father as a tall, outgoing man with a strong, "larger than life" personality.
She described her mother as "my heart."
"She taught me how to be a kind person, how to be a compassionate person," she said.
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Mrs Staver began slipping into dementia in recent years, leaving Mr Staver struggling to cope.
They had to be moved to separate rooms at their long-term care facility in Virginia, Ms Clinton said.
"When I would explain the need for the separation, mum would go, 'But that's daddy, that's Preble,' " she said.
"Even in her demented state, she had that compassion and understanding that my dad's reaction to some of the disease process wasn't really a reaction to her, and she still wanted to be with him."
Ms Clinton said her parents shared a beautiful moment just days before their deaths.
Mrs Staver was taken to visit Mr Staver for his 96th birthday on October 17.
"All of a sudden I heard this little warbly voice," Ms Clinton said.
"And mum, totally unprompted, sang 'Happy Birthday' to dad."
"It was the, really, the catalyst of them being able to let go, I believe."
She said both of her parents seemed calmer and more peaceful afterward.
Within a few days, a hospice nurse told Ms Clinton they both were moving closer to death.
On October 25, days before what would have been her own 96th birthday, Mrs Staver received last rites from their Episcopal priest while Mr Staver held her hand.
Mr Staver died just 14 hours after Mrs Staver, on the same day.
