Today, we’ll tell you about the emotional ending to a beautiful love story that spanned 69 years.
An Illinois couple married for 69 years died 40 minutes apart….while holding hands in their hospital room.
Teresa Vatkin was 89 when she died at 12:10 a.m alongside her husband, Isaac. Isaac Vatkin, 91, died 40 minutes later in the room they shared at Highland Park Hospital in Skokie, Illinois. The touching story was told by the Associated Press.
Relatives say the couple were holding hands when Teresa passed away. The couple’s daughter, Clara Gesklin, said her father stopped breathing once their hands separated. She told WGN, “My father’s chest went flat. I would think no more than 20 minutes. They were both gone.”
Donald Vatkin is the couple’s son. He told the Chicago Sun Times, “The moment he felt we removed her hand from his, he was able to say ‘OK, I’m done protecting her. I can go and rest as well.” He called it, “The ultimate (act of) chivalry — so he could go to heaven and open the door for her.”
Leo Vatkin, another son of Theresa and Isaac, said his father “never wanted to do anything apart” from his wife.
He told those who attended the couple’s joint funeral, Their “love for each other was so strong they simply could not live without each other.”
Its a remarkable story of commitment in a country where the average length of a marriage is just 8 years and the national divorce rate is 41%.