Harvey and Irma, long-married couple, bothered by hurricanes with same name

Harvey and Irma Schluter share names with the two hurricanes that have threatened the southern U.S. in the past two weeks.

But while Harvey dumped torrential rains on Houston and Irma nearly leveled some Caribbean islands, the Schluters, who have been married for 75 years, have only ever spread love.

The pair from Spokane, Wash. say it’s hard for them to even watch the news about the namesake hurricanes.

“It’s so sad and I don’t like that. It bothers me,” Irma told KXLY4 News.

Irma, 92, and Harvey, 104, have three kids and a bunch of grandkids, but they’ve also helped raise over 100 foster kids.

Harvey, a retired army serviceman, also ran a barber shop in town.

They remember many of the major events of the past century, including seeing their first airplane to watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.

READ MORE: ‘Everybody is in panic mode’: Canadians escape from and prepare for Hurricane Irma

But they told the New York Times they have never seen two hurricanes quite like the ones that bear their names.

When they first heard the news, they couldn’t believe it.

“The kids were here and they were telling me about the hurricanes, and I thought they were just goofing around,” Irma told PEOPLE magazine. “I said, ‘What are you kids talking about?’ They’re always trying to mess around to get me on something!”

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But they don’t have to worry about it happening again. The World Meteorological Organization does cycle through names, alternating male and female, each year. But when storms are devastating and memorable, they retire their names.

The Times reports that the widespread effects of Harvey, which left over 20 dead in Texas, and Irma, which killed over 40 in the Caribbean and hasn’t yet hit Florida, mean those names will likely be retired.

READ MORE: Florida evacuation window closing fast as Hurricane Irma looms

The couple celebrated their 75th anniversary in March, an event that was marked by an article in the Spokesman-Review of Spokane.

“They’re the most loving, wonderful, giving people I know,” their adoptive child Dona Schluter, 47, told the newspaper.