# Married for 70 years, inseparable couple die 15 hours apart. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533 "2014-04-20T06:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/1 "2014-04-20T06:40:12Z")
[Married for 70 years, inseparable couple die 15 hours apart. Each tried to stay strong for the other.](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/article18070808/) I always felt there was something to this. You? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/2 "2014-04-20T07:35:59Z")
Yes, I believe you can will yourself to die or at least expedite the process. However, it goes both way. My stepfather’s father and mother didn’t get along at all. They stayed together over the decades but mostly avoided each other. He got sick enough to require a nursing home and he moved there while she stayed at home. He was doing quite well there and feeling perky because, while he was confined, he still felt free because she wasn’t around to nag him anymore. She got tired of staying at home and faked an illness to get moved into his room at the nursing home. He was dead within 48 hours. She went back home and lived for another 5 years. True story. She was a real piece of work. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/3 "2014-04-20T07:39:22Z")
I’ll back coincidence. The one who died second had to die some number of hours after the one that died first. They weren’t going to live forever. However my wife, when she was a palliative care specialist, told me plenty of stories about people who hung on and hung on until some particular event and then just died. It seemed a pretty common theme. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/4 "2014-04-20T08:02:21Z")
So that couple loved each other more than those who happen to die months or years apart? Oh, _puh-leeze_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/5 "2014-04-20T08:08:57Z")
Meanwhile, News.com.au has this story under the clickbait headline “Tragic couple die 15 hours apart”. Yes, spare us all from the tragic fate of 70 happy years of marriage and dying in our 90s. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/6 "2014-04-20T08:14:12Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Yes, I believe you can will yourself to die or at least expedite the process. However, it goes both way. My stepfather’s father and mother didn’t get along at all. They stayed together over the decades but mostly avoided each other. He got sick enough to require a nursing home and he moved there while she stayed at home. He was doing quite well there and feeling perky because, while he was confined, he still felt free because she wasn’t around to nag him anymore. She got tired of staying at home and faked an illness to get moved into his room at the nursing home. He was dead within 48 hours. She went back home and lived for another 5 years. True story. She was a real piece of work. “RE: He was dead within 48 hours.”. - Jeez. Almost sounds like murder. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/7 "2014-04-20T08:15:12Z")
I should have added this. My father died when he was 90 years and ONE day old. - Wonder’in if he just barely over extend his stay… ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/8 "2014-04-20T08:41:55Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Yes, I believe you can will yourself to die or at least expedite the process. However, it goes both way. My stepfather’s father and mother didn’t get along at all. They stayed together over the decades but mostly avoided each other. He got sick enough to require a nursing home and he moved there while she stayed at home. He was doing quite well there and feeling perky because, while he was confined, he still felt free because she wasn’t around to nag him anymore. She got tired of staying at home and faked an illness to get moved into his room at the nursing home. He was dead within 48 hours. She went back home and lived for another 5 years. True story. She was a real piece of work. Actually this was on an episode of House MD. The wife’s poison of choice was gold on his corn flakes. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/9 "2014-04-20T21:02:28Z")
This happened to a couple in my grandparent’s generation, like my grand-aunt and uncle. I may have only met them once, when I was a kid. He died first, and when his wife was told, she dropped dead. Less than an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/10 "2014-04-20T21:11:46Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > So that couple loved each other more than those who happen to die months or years apart? > > Oh, _puh-leeze_. :rolleyes: No, they just had a different mental bond. It doesn’t mean that other couples love less, they just think about it differently. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/married-for-70-years-inseparable-couple-die-15-hours-apart/686533/11 "2014-04-21T04:31:30Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > I should have added this. My father died when he was 90 years and ONE day old. - Wonder’in if he just barely over extend his stay… In a sense - [people are more likely to die on their birthday than any other day](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9323562/We-are-more-likely-to-die-on-our-birthday-than-any-other-day.html).