True Love Never Ends: Couple Married 67 Years Dies Holding Hands

Floyd Hartwig and his wife, Violet, endured plenty of hardship during their 67 years of marriage.

But, in their last hours, the two linked hands and weathered the end together.

The Fresno Bee reports both Floyd, 90, and Violet, 89, died on February 11. He went first, Violet's hand in his until the end, and she followed a mere five hours afterward.

The Easton, California couple first met as children but began courting during Floyd's WWII Navy service. They exchanged more than 130 romantic letters while waiting for Floyd's service to end.

And when he was close to discharge in 1947, the Hartwigs married, eventually raising three daughters and cultivating a unique kind of union.

Floyd reportedly worked as a farm foreman and also managed 20 acres of his own property, where the pair lived up until this past January.

Violet's mind faded with dementia while Floyd battled both bladder and colon cancers only to find out his kidneys had failed.

And on Floyd and Violet's last day together, their gathered family reportedly watched as the pair clasped hands in hospital beds that were pushed together and took their last breaths in perfect synchronization.

The Hartwigs were each other's strength.

Daughter Donna Scharton explained to The Fresno Bee, "I think that's what kept them going… that they each had the other one."

"They didn't want to go without each other."

She continued, saying she and her sisters were happy to see their parents go together.

Scharton added, "We felt blessed because we knew that's what they wanted."

"And when we went to the funeral home and saw the two caskets — it was meant to be. "

"That's the only way it could end."

For Floyd and “Vi,” the last moments were a partnership and an adventure, just as their lives had been.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdYxS2Kyx5Q

Citations: Couple Married 67 Years Dies Holding Hands, Just Hours Apart (Huffington Post)