Dying Wish

I read the sweetest story earlier today, and it was so heartwarming that I decided it was worthy of a blog post. The article was about Floyd and Violet Hartwig, an elderly couple who died a few weeks ago, on February 11. 90-year-old Floyd and 89-year-old Violet had been married for 67 years at the time of their deaths, but had known each other since they were small children in school.

After Floyd finished high school, he enlisted in the Navy. Once when Floyd was home on leave, he and Violet ran into each other at a dance. They enjoyed catching up and began corresponding with each other through letters when Floyd went back out to sea.

The couple married on August 16, 1947, and settled on a small ranch in California where they grew cotton and raised turkeys. Floyd and Violet had three children, as well, and their family eventually grew to include four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Floyd and Violet remained active on their ranch up until the very end of their lives. This past Christmas, Violet's family noticed that her dementia had worsened, and then at the end of January, Floyd's doctor told him that he was in kidney failure and had approximately two weeks to live.

Floyd and Violet wanted to die at home, so their family moved the couches out of the living room so that hospice could bring in two beds. Even though Floyd was quite weak and could hardly walk, he wanted to help Violet up until the very end. When it was clear that they were both dying, their family pushed their hospital beds together so that they could hold hands. It was really up in the air which one would go first, but it was Floyd's body that gave out first. Violet died just five hours later.

I thought it was so sweet how much this couple loved each other, and how it seemed as if they couldn't bear to be separated for even more than a few hours, so they had to follow each other to heaven on the same day. I sure hope that my mom and I are blessed enough to follow each other to heaven relatively quickly, like this sweet couple. Not that I'm ready to go quite yet, but when one of us does eventually go, I hope the other isn't too far behind!