When Helen Felumlee passed away at the age of 92 Saturday morning, her family knew her husband Kenneth Felumlee, 91, wouldn’t be slow to follow her. The couple couldn’t bear to be apart very long, and Kenneth passed away only 15½ hours after his wife of 70 years.Daughter Lind Cody said..
“We knew when one went, the other was going to go,“We wanted them to go together, and they did.”After Kenneth had his leg amputated 2½ years ago because of circulation problems, Helen became his main caretaker, making sure he got everything he needed. She continued this up until three weeks before their deaths, when she became too frail to care for him.“She was so weak, she could hardly do it.But she was still pushing his chair; she was still filling his water cup.”
When Kenneth’s health started to fail, Helen began sleeping on the couch to be near him. The two hadn’t slept apart in 70 years. Years ago, when the two took an overnight ferry equipped with bunk-beds, they chose to both sleep on the bottom bunk rather than be separated for even a night.
Soon after Kenneth, Helen’s health also started to go downhill, and she was confined to a hospital bed
near the end of her life. Kenneth took this particularly hard.“He would just reach out and grab her hand, but he would keep his head down because he couldn’t stand to see her hurting,”Upon his wife’s death, Kenneth was ready to join her, family said.
“She was staying strong for Dad and he was staying strong for her.That’s what kept them going.”Helen and Kenneth’s love story began when they were just 18 and 19 after Kenneth’s ex-girlfriend, a friend to Helen, introduced the two. They immediately hit it off, dating
for three years before deciding to elope.Lying to their parents, the two said they were taking a day trip to Kentucky to visit Kenneth’s old basketball coach. Heading to the courthouse with only $5 in their pockets, Kenneth and Helen arrived with barely enough to pay the $2 fee. The couple were wed Feb. 20, 1944, two days before Kenneth was legally old enough to get married. “He couldn’t wait,” son Jim Felumlee said.
The two grew with every day, their children said, and remained deeply in love until the very end. Even in their last days, Helen and Kenneth would eat breakfast together while holding hands.
About 12 hours after Helen died, Kenneth looked at his children and said,
“Mom’s dead.” He quickly began to fade, and was surrounded by 24 of his closest family members and friends when he died Sunday morning.
“It was a wonderful going away party,He was ready. He just didn’t want to leave her here by herself.”
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