【2005 Archives】

Imagine spending seven decades with someone005 Archivesthen dying less than five minutes apart.

That’s what happened last week to a British couple that had been married for 71 years. Wilf Russell, aged 93, died on March 29 at 6:50 a.m. Amazingly, his 91-year old wife, Vera, passed away just a few minutes later, at 6:54 a.m.

The couple were childhood sweethearts. They got engaged when they were just 16 and 18 and were married on Sept. 5, 1945. They had a family and lived together until Wilf, a veteran of World War Two, was diagnosed with dementia last year and moved into a care home in Wigston, Leicestershire.

After he stopped recognizing her during visits, Vera’s health declined as well, according to the couple’s granddaughter, Stephanie Welch. Vera was admitted to a hospital in January, just three miles from where Wilf was. She died not having been told of her husband’s death a few minutes prior.

Welch says her grandmother’s final words were about Wilf, "The last thing she said to me was: 'We're a right pair, aren't we?'” She believes Vera stayed put until the time was right. "I think she was waiting for him to go. She was broken-hearted."

It’s like The Notebookin real life.

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