An elderly couple passed away within one and a half hours of each other; making for a heartbreakingly beautiful ending to their decades-long love story. Delma and Tom Ledbetter had been married for more than 60 years. However, in April 2017 they fell ill. The Lake Jackson, Texas residents were sent to the same nursing home by their family and they remained there until 21 April, when they passed away holding hands.
Tom died first and within an hour and a half, his wife joined him. “Their love was a testimony to many and was surely a match made in Heaven. Although the family is filled with sadness, they are left with many loving memories until the time comes that they are all together again,” read the couple’s obituary according to the Independent.
The couple’s daughter, Donetta Nichols, explained that her parents died exactly the way they would have wanted. “It was exactly how they wanted to go. It couldn’t have been any better,” she told local TV station KPRC 2.
“They had pushed their little beds together and Mama was laying right there, facing him. She was asleep and Daddy goes and he reached over there and he grabbed ahold of her hand and he just laid there with her, and it was so sweet,” she added.
Delma and Tom Ledbetter first met in the 1950s through mutual friends while living in Florida. Then a chance encounter led them on their first date, and three weeks was all they needed to know that they were meant to be. They tied the knot and lived happily with their two daughters, seven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren for 62 years.
Then in April 2017 Delma fell ill and had to be taken to a nursing home. Tom too fell sick just a few days later. On their last day, Delma was sleeping while facing her husband who extended his hand and held hers. They eventually died in each other’s arms, displaying their love even as they took their last breath. They were buried beside each other at Restwood Memorial Park, Texas.
Cover image source: YouTube Screenshot | KPRC 2 Click2Houston
