Tom and Delma Ledbetter a Texas couple married for 62 years have died 90 minutes apart whilst holding hands as a family reflects on the perfect ending.
Tom and Delma Ledbetter a Texas couple married for 62 years have died 90 minutes apart whilst holding hands side by side in adjoining hospital beds.
With their family at their parents deathbeds, daughter, Donetta Nichols told Click 2 Houston, ’It as exactly how they wanted to go.’
Adding, ‘It couldn’t have been any better’.
According to the outlet, the Lake Jackson, Texas couple died in hospice on April 21, with less than an hour and a half separating their passing. Tom was 84 years old and Delma was 82 years old.
Nichols, one of the Ledbetter’s two daughters, said that her parents met when they were in their early 20s, after being introduced by mutual friends while living in Florida.
The couple’s first ‘date’ took place while Tom was moving his car one day.
‘They drove around two, three different blocks or whatever and they came back and they parked,’ Nichols said, recalling what her father told her about the way her parents’ long relationship began.
‘He said he reached over and he grabbed her hand and he said, “I don’t know what made me do it.” He said, “I just reached over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.” ‘
Thus began a whirlwind romance, with Tom and Delma marrying after just three weeks.
The couple had two daughters, eventually expanding to include seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
After Tom retired, he and Delma traveled around the US, spending their twilight years going from campsite to campsite, according to their obituary.
Things took a turn for the worse last month when Delma became sick and was unable to recover her health.
‘They couldn’t get a pulse. They couldn’t get a blood pressure. They couldn’t get anything. Yet mama was just hanging on to something,’ Nichols said.
Shortly after Nichols’ father, Tom fell ill, days after his wife.
‘We got him over to the nursing home with Mama,’ reiterated Nichols.
‘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 a hold of her hand and he just laid there with her, and it was so sweet.’
On April 21, the couple passed away.
‘Together for 62 years here on earth and now they will continue to share their love in Heaven.
‘My papa and nanny both passed away today holding each other’s hands a little over an hour apart. What a blessing for them to be able to go together!’ Stephanie Rutkowske wrote on Facebook the day her grandparents died.
The Ledbetters are buried side-by-side at Restwood Memorial Park in Clute, Texas.
