Till Death Do Us Part: Elderly Couple Leave Life Together

Ed and Floreen Hale’s son Ricky Hale and Floreen’s sister Marleen DeCarlo of Albion hold a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Hale on their 50th anniversary.
(Credit: Tom Rivers)

Few can literally say they loved their husband or wife until his or her last breath – but New York resident Edward Hale is one of the rare cases who kept the marital promise « Till Death Do Us Part » until the final moments of his wife’s life. The two died together just hours apart in New York earlier this February, holding hands in a hospital room.

Edward met Floreen at a local dance in 1952, and they were immediately smitten with one another. Young and swept up by love at first sight, they were quickly married. It was of no consequence to Edward that Floreen had just suffered grave injuries from a car crash that would forever handicap her. When the young Edward asked her parents for permission to marry Floreen, they hesitated to say yes – she would need someone to tend to her for the rest of her life, they insisted. Edward swore that for the rest of his life he would be that man.

Edward and Floreen Hale.
(Credit: nydailynews.com)

He left their home that day with a new fiancé and a spring in his step.

Fast-forward 60-something years to February 2014, to a hospital room in Batavia, New York: an 83 year old Edward holds fast the hand of Floreen, now 82, both nearing their final moments of life after a lifetime of devotion and a brief scare that they would miss one another’s departure.

Edward had been hospitalized in Rochester since Monday, January 31st 2014, and on Tuesday he learned that Floreen, too, was suddenly hospitalized for a congestive heart failure with “hours to live” in a far-off room in Batavia. Edward demanded to be relocated to her hospital at the United Methodist Medical Center.

Edward and Floreen Hale on their wedding day.

“She thought that maybe he had already died,” said Floreen’s daughter to New York Daily News. When Edward was reunited with his wife, she simply said, “Edward, don’t ever leave me again.”

Edward never did. Floreen passed away within minutes of seeing her husband, holding Edward’s hand until her final breath – and it was only after her passing that he finally let himself pass on.

Learn more about the couple that brought new depth to the promise “Till Death Do Us Part” in this article by The New York Daily News.

Related SevenPonds Articles:

• Life Without Richard: An 84-year-old woman loses her husband to lymphoma
• Aging Alone in America: New News, Good News, and Not So Good News in the contemporary trends in the lives of the elderly
• The Power of Grief: Widow Stays by Spouse’s Side after his Death