Til death did them part, only death did not...

How sweet.

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http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/85585222.html

After 62 years of marriage, Dave and Rose Meier died less than an hour apart of natural causes.

If death can ever be described as romantic, it would be this couple's tandem departure from this world at age 89 for Dave and 91 for Rose. As in life, they did everything together. Neither would be left behind.

The family told me that a hospice nurse logged it this way: "Dave Meier had passed on at 2:05 a.m., but then he came back to get Rosalie (Rose) at 2:50."

After some 543,000 hours of marriage - not that they were counting - the end for both came in the same hour early on Feb. 11.

"It would have been heartbreaking for either one of them to live without the other one," said the couple's daughter, Gayle Corona, who lives on Milwaukee's northwest side. "Knowing that the two of them did go so close, to us it was comforting."

A death notice and photo of the Meiers that ran in this newspaper prompted calls to the Harder Funeral Home from curious strangers who wondered if a traffic accident or suicide had been involved.

Life was good for Dave and Rose Meier. The local city boy and central Wisconsin farm girl met in 1947 at Dreamland, a popular dance hall in Milwaukee, after Dave finished his military service.

"My mom would say, 'He was always following me.' My dad would say, 'I was just trying to get her attention.' He finally got her to go out with him," Gayle said.

They got married on Feb. 7, 1948, and settled in Milwaukee, living first on the south side, then in Riverwest, then on the west side. For the past 30 years, Harvard Lane in Wauwatosa was home.

Two sons, David and Allen, came along, followed by two daughters, Gayle and Karen. Then six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Rose was a homemaker and fabulous seamstress who even made her own wedding dress. Dave spent his working life at Interstate Drop Forge as a timekeeper, meaning he measured how long it took to do various jobs.

Dave and Rose kept life simple. They watched their pennies and didn't go on vacations. Family time was their favorite leisure, and Dave liked to golf. In summer, they sat together on lawn chairs in the driveway and watched the world go by. One would start a crossword puzzle and the other finished it. They were clearly in love but never showy about it.

It wasn't until last October that health issues began to catch up with the couple. Rose had broken a hip in a parking lot fall and was forced to give up fitness walking. Dave suffered chronic back and leg pain and was having increasing difficulty walking and getting out of chairs.

Dave was hospitalized and then wound up in rehab at the Lutheran Home at 76th and North. Rose moved to an apartment at Hart Park Square, but another fall left her ever weaker. Eventually, she went to the Lutheran Home, too.

Tests discovered Dave had lung cancer that was spreading.

"The doctors said he had anywhere from two weeks to two months at the very most. It's the first time we've ever seen my dad cry. He was not afraid for himself. He didn't want to leave Mom," Gayle said.

He entered Vitas hospice care at the Lutheran Home. Meanwhile, Rose's kidneys and heart were failing and she developed pneumonia. On Feb. 7, their wedding anniversary, she was at Froedtert Hospital and unable to be with Dave.

Two days later, the doctors knew time was very short for Dave. But it was determined that Rose could not be transported to his location that day. The family got Vitas nurse Glenda Beck involved.

"She said, no, she's coming today. So she got on the phone with Froedtert. They had Mom there an hour and a half later," in a snowstorm, Gayle said.

The next day, "they moved all the furniture out of Mom's room. They moved Dad's bed in and put them side-by-side. They put their hands together. Mom and Dad held hands the entire day."

By then, they were barely conscious and neither was able to communicate verbally.

That night, Gayle's sister, Karen, got a call from Vitas shortly after 2 a.m. saying her father had died.

"Karen went over there. While Karen was there in the room with dad, the nurse came in and knocked on the door and said, 'Your mom also has gone,' " Gayle said.

At the funeral, their caskets were side-by-side at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in West Allis.

One reading was from Ecclesiastes. There's a time, the congregation heard, to every purpose under heaven.

Aw. I say if your going to die...dieing together is much easier.

I can only imagine after 62 years together how terrible it would be to be without the person you loved for all those years.

It's so sweet.

I'd want to go that way. I don't know what I'd do... I really do believe you can die from a "broken heart".

I think so too! I think I'd MUCH rather die like this then to live with out John when we are that old.

This made me cry. I hope this is how Chris and I go

That's how my Grandparents were. Not that close, but a couple weeks.

Awwww, that is so sad. But sad in a good way. I'm glad they went together!!

Thats so comforting....

That's the sweetest thing..... but as a kid of the parents... regardless of my age.... I don't think I could handle the passing of both parents at the same time..... what a hard thing to deal with!