"If that doesn't show you the power of love ... "

by Dave Boehi

I have often read stories about elderly couples, married 50 years or more, who die within days of each other.  Recently the Cincinnati Enquirer told such a story about a couple married 61 years.  Joseph and Laura Presutto were almost inseparable during their entire marriage. 

"The bond between them was so extraordinarily strong," their daughter Donna Presutto said.

That bond lasted through the rearing of their only child and then retirement. It lasted after they moved into an assisted living facility in 2007, where they shared the equivalent of an apartment with caregivers checking in on them.

"I made the promise then that I would move heaven and Earth to help them stay together," their daughter said.

Laura died earlier this month, and her husband followed less than 48 hours later.  In stories like these, you get a sense that somehow their spirits were keeping each other alive.  And when the first one passed, it was like cutting off life support for the other.  As their daughter said, "If that doesn't show you the power of love ..."