Devoted couple married for 67 years die within two hours of each other
 A devoted couple who were married for 67 years have died of natural causes within two hours of each other, in the same room at a New Zealand rest home. Family members said Hugh Nees, 94, and his wife Joan, 92, could not bear to spend even a day apart, and had told them they did not want to live without each other. Mr Nees, who had cancer, died first in the double room they shared at Eldon Lodge rest home in Paraparaumu, north of Wellington. His wife suffered a stroke. They had moved into the rest home from their house at nearby Waikanae just over two months ago, because of declining health. Mr Nees was a retired Baptist minister. "They were strong Christians and therefore they knew where they were going, and they had no problem about going there," their son Robert Nees said. He told the New Zealand Herald that his mother would not have known that her husband had preceded her, even though the couple "were in the same room, lying beside each other", surrounded by family. "Their departure, it's sad but happy. Life wasn't easy for the last little while and that's over, that's all good." Asked whether they might have had any premonition of their close departure, their son said: "It's so hard to know. It almost seems like it, doesn't it?" Their daughter Joy Reid said the timing of their deaths was a miracle. |
