Jeanette and Henry De Lange had the kind of love story people dream about.
The South-Dakota based couple were married in 1953. They have spent every day together since.
He was a Korean War Veteran, she was a musician who took care of their five children. They never looked back.
Last month their children received an urgent call from the nursing home facility the pair were staying at.
Henry, at 86, was losing his battle to prostate cancer. Jeanette, 87, was also suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease with no signs of improvement.
The end seemed near.
“[The doctor] said your dad’s pulse is worse. I wonder if he’ll go first,” son Lee De Lange told KSFY. “About five minutes later, the aid said I think your mum will go very soon. It was 5:05 p.m. at that point.”
At 5:10pm she passed away.
Two of her children were able to be by Jeanette’s side at the time she passed. They told their heartbroken dad he could stop fighting too if he needed to.
“My brother Keith said to my dad, said ‘mum’s gone to heaven. You don’t have to fight anymore, you can go too if you want,” Lee said.
“He was laying in bed. He, for the first time, opened his eyes, looked intently over where mum was. Closed his eyes back down. Laid back down, died about 5 or 10 minutes after that.”
It was twenty minutes after his beloved wife had left the world.
“We’re calling it a beautiful act of God’s providential love and mercy,” Lee said. “You don’t pray for it because it seems mean but you couldn’t ask for anything more beautiful.”
Proof that sometimes the most understated love stories truly are the most special ones. RIP, Jeanette and Henry.
