A family in Texas has released a touching photo showing the moment an elderly couple faced death as they had faced life: together.
On April 21, Tom and Delma Ledbetter passed away in Lake Jackson, Texas. According to their obituary, married for “almost” 62 years, they died with 90 minutes of each other.
A photo posted by Stephanie Rutkowske, one of their grandchildren, shows the couple holding hands in adjoining hospital beds as their lives came to an end.
“My papa and nanny both passed away today, holding each other’s hands, a little over an hour apart,” Rutkowski wrote in her post. “What a blessing for them to be able to go together!”
One of the couple’s daughters, Donetta Nichols, later elaborated on the touching photo in an interview with KPRC News in Houston, Texas.
“They had pushed their little beds together and Mama was laying right there, facing him,” Nichols said. “She was asleep and Daddy … reached over there and he grabbed ahold of her hand and he just laid there with her, and it was so sweet.”
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The couple first met in their early 20s when Tom was posted to Florida while serving in the military.
By all accounts, they lived a rich life together: their obituary mentions the couple is survived by their two daughters, seven grand-children, and seven great-grandchildren.
“Upon Tom’s retirement, they were blessed to be able to travel the United States – campsite to campsite,” a portion of the obituary reads. “Their love was a testimony to many, and was surely a match made in heaven.”
A funeral service was held on May 1st at Restwood Funeral Home in Clute, Texas. The couple was then laid to rest at Restwood Memorial Park.
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