During their nearly 80-year marriage, an Ohio couple had done everything together. When the time came, they also passed away together.
Hubert and June Malicote, who both turned 100 in July 2022, were fortunate enough to have a long-lasting love. Last summer, they celebrated their 79th wedding anniversary.
In August 2022, doctors predicted that June wouldn’t make it past the end of the year when they discovered she had a heart condition. She suffered from a urinary tract infection two months later and never fully recovered.
According to the duo’s daughter Jo Malicote, Hubert was the picture of health at his age. But she believed he died of a broken heart.
“They were just so connected, so connected. Mentally and emotionally,” Jo told FOX TV Stations.
Hubert passed away on Nov. 30, and about 20 hours later, June died on the afternoon of Dec. 1.
“He literally, I think, just willed himself to go on ahead of her and he went 20 hours ahead of her,” Jo said.
As he lay dying, he held his wife’s hand. According to Jo, the family gave their mother comfort in her final hours.
The longest-married couple in Ohio
On June 8, 1943, the couple was married and had been a great combination ever since.
Hubert was a veteran, who served in the Navy at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. June worked in a torpedo factory in Hamilton, Ohio, while her husband was deployed.
Hubert left for WWII after their wedding, spending the next two years apart from his wife. He returned to Ohio after the war and they started a new chapter in their lives.
The couple recently revealed that avoiding arguments was one of the keys to their long-lasting love.
Hubert said “We’ve never had one quarrel,”
“If there’s controversy, you might have to walk away for a couple minutes,” he noted “Then you come back in and change the subject or you work it out.”
Additionally, Jo said that her parents “hold hands and say goodnight to each other” every night. Then in the morning, they greet each other with huge smiles.
According to a family member, the couple became Ohio’s longest-married couple this past summer. They are survived by their three children, seven grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
They were buried together in Hamilton, Ohio on Dec. 8.