Husband and wife die on the same day just 12 hours apart after 71 years of marriage

A married couple died on the same day just 12 hours apart after a phenomenal 71 years of marriage, WRDW reports.

Herbert DeLaigle, 94, and Marilyn Frances DeLaigle, 88, from Georgia were married from 1948 until last Friday when the pair died at a hospital in Waynesboro.

Herbert was the first of the two to die at 2.20am, and Marilyn Frances died just 12 hours later.

The husband and wife met back in 1947 at a Waynesboro cafe where Marilyn was working at the time.

Their love was palpable from the moment they met until the moment they breathed their last breaths:

"Frances worked at a little cafe we had in Waynesboro named White Way Cafe," Herbert DeLaigle said in a 2018 interview with WRDW. "I kept seeing her going in and out, in and out and I had my eyes set on her. And then I finally got up the nerve to ask her if she would go out with me sometime."

The loved-up couple went to watch a movie on their very first date and just a year later Hebert popped the question.

"I asked her will she have me as her husband and she said, of course," Herbert recalled.

Credit: CNN

It wasn't all plain-sailing though. In fact, the wedding almost didn't happen.

"He was always late," Marilyn told News 12. Herbert admits that the preacher initially refused to conduct the ceremony because they were an hour late. After a little persuasion, however, the preacher did eventually agree to marry them.

Marilyn and her husband spent six years of their marriage in Germany during the Second World War where Herbert served in the army.

Credit: CNN

He also served in Korea and Vietnam before leaving the army for good after 22 years of service.

Marilyn and Herbet had six children, 16 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

A funeral service was held for the couple on Monday.

This article originally appeared on vt.co