After 65 years of marriage, Marjorie Landis died. Her husband James died 88 minutes later of a heart attack.
Erin Miller tells the Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown that her grandfather, James Landis, was with his 87-year-old wife, Marjorie, when she died Monday at the Laurelwood Care Center near Johnstown.
Miller says, “The last thing he said to her was, ‘It's OK. I love you. We had many good years together. I will see you real soon.’”
Less than an hour-and-a-half later, 89-year-old James Landis died of a heart attack.
Miller says she thinks her grandfather “died of a broken heart. I don't think they could have lived apart from each other.”
The broken heart theory with longtime couples may not be an uncommon phenomenon that happens in movies like “The Notebook.” Last month another Pennsylvania couple, who was married 61 years, died 12 hours apart.
Richard Trimmer, 81, of central Pennsylvania, had been hospitalized Jan. 8 after a fall when his children told him that his wife of 61 years, Nancy, had died in her sleep. Richard Trimmer was dead a few hours later, succumbing to lung cancer.
The Landis’ funeral was set for Thursday morning at the Westmont Presbyterian Church.
