TIFFIN, Ohio – A couple married for 69 years died eight hours apart in hospice care in northwest Ohio, and their son says it wasn’t surprising for a pair who did everything together.

Eighty-eight-year-old Gene Warrington and his 86-year-old wife, Pat, died Dec. 27 in Findlay, The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin (http://bit.ly/1BysPGQ ) reported.

A day earlier, Warrington had been able to visit his wife’s room and hold her hand. Phil Warrington said his father recognized that Pat was in critical condition and pulled out his own intravenous tubes the next day.

“He said it wouldn’t be fun without her,” the son said.

Eight hours after Gene died, his wife passed away.

They had met in junior high school and wed secretly as teenagers while he was home from boot camp before leaving for World War II.

“He told me that when he came back from war, he knew he never wanted to be away from her again,” Phil Warrington said.

Their family grew with three children, seven grandchildren and a dozen great-grandchildren. Throughout it, the Warringtons were nearly inseparable, even in failing health at the end of their love story, their son said.

“You could have almost predicted it,” he said. “They did everything in their life together. They were never apart.”

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Information from: The Advertiser-Tribune, http://www.advertiser-tribune.com