When Herbert DeLaigle’s health started to
decline in 2017, he scheduled a meeting with the preacher at his church
in Waynesboro, Georgia.
During the
sit-down, Herbert revealed that he wasn’t afraid of dying, but he was
scared to leave his beloved wife, Marilyn, behind.
In
the end, Marilyn was only without Herbert for 12 hours. Herbert, 94,
died from heart failure at 2:20 a.m. on July 12. Marilyn, 88, took her
final breath at 2:20 p.m the same day.
“My
mom had Alzheimer’s and was sleeping in a bed next to him when he
went,” Donnie DeLaigle, the couple's son, told TODAY. “As soon as they
came to take my dad, her breathing went crazy. She was shaking. It was
like she knew he was gone.”
Marilyn’s official cause of death was senile degeneration of the brain. Still, it’s hard not to wonder if Marilyn died of a broken heart.
Scientists in the 1990s discovered
that a traumatic event such as the loss of a loved one, can literally
break your heart. The condition called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or
“broken heart syndrome,” is triggered by stress hormones including
adrenaline, and temporarily disrupts the heart’s normal pumping
function.
A lifetime of love: Georgia couple dies hours apart
July 17, 201901:43
Herbert and Marilyn’s daughter, Helen Iris DeLaigle, said a nurse predicted her parents would die on the same day.
“She
pulled me aside six months ago and said, ‘When I go to check your dad’s
vitals, your mom’s will be neck-in-neck with his,’” Helen Iris told
TODAY. “She had never seen anything like it in her career.”
Donnie, who is one of six siblings, said he could not imagine his parents’ story ending any other way.
“Mom
and Dad held hands wherever they went. That’s what they were known for
in town,” Donnie, 66, said. “They held hands in their sleep.”
"It embarrassed me when I was a teenager," Helen Iris admitted. "But when I got older, I was like, 'How precious.'"
Marilyn
explained to her children that it was because the decorated Army
veteran was gone so often. Herbert served during World War II, the
Korean War and the Vietnam War.
“My mother said she was going to hold on to him when he was home,” Donnie told TODAY. “So that was their thing.”
The funeral, which was held on Monday, was a celebration.
“We can’t be sad,” Donnie said. “Now they’re in heaven holding hands.”
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