Don and Maxine Simpson were married for over six decades and did everything together, their family said.
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The pair met in a bowling alley in Bakersfield, California, and married a few years later. For over 60 years they travelled the world together, adopting two boys.
“All Don wanted was to be with his beautiful wife," their granddaughter Melissa Sloan told ABC-affiliate KERO-TV. "He adored my grandmother, loved her to the end of the earth.”
A couple of weeks ago, Don fell and broke his hip. He was taken to hospital but his health began deteriorating quickly. Around the same time, the cancer Maxine had been battling also began to progress.
"We kept them together, and had their beds side by side. Gram woke up and saw him and held hands, and they knew that they were next to each other.I knew in my heart this is what's supposed to happen. Grandma and grandpa are supposed to be together, and grandma and grandpa are going to die together."
She said she heard her grandmother take her last breath. After she took Maxine’s body out of the room she returned to find Don had stopped breathing as well.
"He left with her, and they passed four hours apart from each other," Sloan added. "They left this world together. It's just amazing. It really is amazing. It's a true love story."