A Chicago couple, who were married for an incredible 69 years, have been dubbed the Notebook couple after they died holding hands and mere minutes apart.
The three children of Teresa and Issac Vatkin have since spoken about their parents' death.
The couple had been admitted to a local hospital in late April. Isaac had influenza and Teresa was suffering from pneumonia after being diagnosed with dementia 10 years ago.
On April 23 at midnight, Teresa died at the age of 89.
Their daughter Clara Gesklin revealed that when they separated their parents' fingers, 91-year-old Isaac stopped breathing.
"I saw it with my own eyes," she said. "All of a sudden, when their fingers separated, he just stopped breathing."
Speaking to the Chicago Sun Times, their son Daniel remembered his father's final words.
"I'm done protecting her. I can go and rest as well," he said.
"My mum was his queen," Daniel told People.
"They stuck together through thick and thin and they taught us what it means to be a loving [spouse] and how to love and say forget and forgive and move on," he added.
At the couple's joint funeral on April 24, Clasklin said her parents "love for each other was so strong they simply could not live without each other".
"They never wanted to do anything apart," the couple's son Leo told the Associated Press.
Their death instantly drew similarities with one of the most romantic movies of all time, The Notebook.
The couple, who were originally from Argentina, married in 1947 and are survived by three children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.