True love is a rare bird. In an era when about one out of every two marriages ends in divorce with an unexpected spike every Valentine’s Day in the United States, true committed love is hard to find. When you do hear about those amazing couples that get the joy of spending a lifetime together, it really touches your heart.
That’s the case for Iowa residents Gordon and Norma Yeager. In a world where rapidly cycling celebrity romances and breakups repeatedly make the news like the battling McCourts in LA, sadly the world was introduced to the Yeagers only because of the way they died.
The couple were involved in a car crash on Oct. 12 and died while holding hands within 70 minutes of each other in a Des Moines intensive care unit room. After spending 72 years together since their wedding in 1939, Gordon, 94, passed away first from his injuries. Initially, his family was fooled by his bedside heart monitor as it continued to beep. However nurses told the loved ones in the room that Gordon’s monitor was picking up Norma’s heartbeat through his hand. Norma, 90, lingered without her beloved husband only 70 minutes before passing away.
The loving elderly couple were also holding hands the last time their family saw them, in their dual casket at their funeral.
It’s couples like the Yeagers that make me think true love is a real tangible thing.
