Long-Married Couple Gordon Yeager And Norma Yeager Die Holding Hands

For one Iowa couple, true love lasted until the very end.

Married 72 years, Norma, 90, and Gordon Yeager, 94, died in the hospital holding hands last week, one hour apart.

The couple was hospitalized after a car accident just outside of Marshalltown, Iowa. They were given a shared room in the ICU where they held hands in adjacent beds.

At 3:38 pm last Wednesday, Gordon's breathing stopped. Though he was no longer alive, his heart monitor continued to register a beat.

The nurse told Gordon and Norma's son, Dennis Yeager, that the monitor was beeping "because they're holding hands, and [Norma's heart beat] is going through them," Dennis recalled in an interview with Des Moines' KCCI news station. "Her heart was beating through him."

Norma died at 4:38 pm, exactly one hour later.

Gordon and Norma's children say they're glad the couple passed this way. "They just loved being together," says Dennis. "He always said, 'I can't go until she does because I gotta stay here for her.' And she would say the same thing."

Comments

[Nancy Fagan]

11:53 AM on 12/16/2011

What a beautiful story and how amazing that her pulse made his monitor register that he was alive. The power of human touch. The power of love!

Nancy Fagan, The Divorce Reporter
www.TheDivorceHelpClinic.com

[Sam Araullo Ramos]

09:35 AM on 12/04/2011

This is so heartwarming.

[frank day]

07:05 PM on 11/08/2011

I'm going first.
No way I'll live without her.

[RavenRaving]

04:50 AM on 10/27/2011

I read this story and thought 'Gee, maybe this love story would be continuing still if this couple had access to good public transportation, or if family and the law admitted that 94 year olds suffer from vision, cognitive, and reflex deficits, and perhaps ought not be driving.' This car accident also involved another vehicle, the car Gordon Yeagar pulled in front of, and whose driver was injured and taken to the hospital.

[jbtez]

01:46 PM on 10/29/2011

I'll bet your glass is half empty.

[metalsmithgirl71]

05:46 PM on 10/30/2011

thank you for ruining a perfectly great feel good story for me and a lot of other folks. and to think this was uplifting for me, then i read your wonderful comment,.

[Karin Clapsaddle]

09:51 PM on 12/03/2011

People need to realize that there is another side to this story. So I would like to say thank you on behalf of the other family for pointing it out. The driver was injured and the passenger of the other car is still recovering from her broken neck. I can state this as a fact since they are my in laws. We are all still very upset about this accident and article for that matter,

[oscar igor1]

04:11 PM on 10/25/2011

Wish I had a love like that . sad that they both pass but happy that they had a love so strong.

[MrUniteUs]

04:46 AM on 10/25/2011

72 years of love. .

[RobertaS77]

02:40 AM on 10/25/2011

There's real value in relationships like that.
http://moodcolorsecrets.com/

[keridoll]

01:51 PM on 10/24/2011

What a beautiful story, this made me cry.

[ronpur]

01:04 PM on 10/24/2011

Has anyone yet heard how Barbara Clapsaddle is doing in her recovery?

[Karin Clapsaddle]

09:55 PM on 12/03/2011

She is making progress slowly. After being in Critical Care for 4 weeks she was able to move out of the hospital and into a nursing home. She still has a halo and trach as a result of the accident. They are trying to ween her off of her oxygen machine. At this point we do not know when she will be able to come home.

[ronpur]

03:49 AM on 12/04/2011

Thank you for that update. Please remember that some of us have not forgotten her and continue to pray for her recovery from this insane accident.

[Rebecca Sitar]

11:26 PM on 10/23/2011

So what most of your are saying is, although bad things happen every single day, by accident or not, we should only focus on the bad and not anything GOOD that comes out of it? Wow. People really DO love the sick morally degrading depressing news. I personally am aware, accidents happen by people of ALL ages. Its a risk you take when you drive. But let the nice ending for THIS couple be heard and enjoyed. If it bothers you that much, then snicker and laugh with your evil heart that they are dead. Happy now?

[Tony Korfman]

08:39 PM on 10/23/2011

my loving wife of 45 years and i use to hold hands wherever we went until a few years ago. now she walks 5 feet in front of me. just in case of landmines. we moved to a bad area after we lost our home.

[Newmom95]

02:06 PM on 10/23/2011

I’m curious as to what the big deal is here. The ENTIRE story needs to be told:
There was pending action by the state to revoke his driver’s license. He continued driving and caused an accident that killed himself and his wife, and broke another woman’s neck.
I don’t get why it’s so remarkable that two people in the same car crash die within an hour of each other. Why is this being romanticized?

[Rebecca Sitar]

11:28 PM on 10/23/2011

They died. Does that make you feel better? Does that meet your approval?

[Karin Clapsaddle]

10:00 PM on 12/03/2011

That was a really rude comment. Nobody is happy that they died but there were other people that were hurt here. How do you think it makes our family feel to have to see this all over the place. We are trying to move on from the trama caused by the car accident. My mother in law Barb is struggling everyday and knowing that someone that never should have been driivng caused this adds to out pain.

[Gabriella Gigi Lewis]

11:40 AM on 10/26/2011

rude.

[FireySnowFlower]

03:34 AM on 10/23/2011

Wow, beautiful but still sad.

[teacherfor25]

01:14 AM on 10/23/2011

Awww....how romantic. Till death do us part....

[Carrie3]

08:42 PM on 10/22/2011

kudos for the doctors for keeping them together.