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Couple married for 69 years die forty minutes apart holding hands

Couple die holding hands
Teresa Vatkin and her husband Isaac had been married nearly seven decades.

A couple who were married for 69 years died holding hands.

Teresa Vatkin, 89, succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease on Saturday as her husband Isaac, 91, held her hand.

Forty minutes later, Isaac died at a hospital in Chicago. Family members told local media that the couple took comfort in knowing they were together at the end.

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“You didn’t want to see them go,” William Vatkin, their grandson said, “but you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Clara Gesklin told mourners at their funeral: “Their love for each other was so strong, they simply could not live without each other.”

The loving couple on their wedding day
The loving couple on their wedding day

“They were always in love, literally to the end. To the last second,” said Rabbi Barry Schechter, who conducted the service in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights.

Staff at the Highland Park Hospital found the couple unresponsive and breathing shallowly on Saturday so moved their beds side by side. Family members placed their hands in each other’s.

The couple had three children and were close to their grandchildren, family members said.