Couple Dies 12 Hours Apart -- One Day After Their 60th Anniversary

"They were inseparable."

JoJo and Jimmy McLaughlin were married 60 years when JoJo died of pancreatic cancer on September 11 -- just one day after the Savannah, Georgia couple's wedding anniversary. Less than 12 hours later, Jimmy died suddenly of a heart attack.

"My father told my brother and the priest who came to give my mom her last rites that he needed to go ahead and give my father his last rites as well," the couple's son Kevin McLaughlin told The Huffington Post. "He pretty much predicted that he wasn't going to make it."

Courtesy of Kevin McLaughlin

Jimmy died unexpectedly at home in his favorite chair while discussing JoJo's funeral arrangements with his kids.

"My brother Joe asked Dad if he wanted a Scotch," Kevin said. "He took one little sip and then said, 'I'm exhausted,' and threw his head back in the chair. My brother thought he was demonstrating how exhausted he was. Seconds later his left arm twitched a bit."

When the paramedics came, Joe told them, "Do what you gotta do, but he's where he wants to be."

Courtesy of Kevin McLaughlin

The McLaughlins' love story began in third grade when the pair met on the playground at Sacred Heart Catholic School. They began dating in seventh grade and tied the knot in 1955 at the age of 18. They eventually went on to have five children.

Courtesy of Kevin McLaughlin

"If my parents were to pass, I thought it would be easier if my father was to pass before my mom," Kevin told HuffPost. "Because my mom was the glue that kept us together. She did everything. Besides my dad being the breadwinner, my mom did absolutely everything."

In an interview with the Savannah Morning News, their daughter Suzanne said that when her mom got sick, she had to teach her dad how to use the microwave and make coffee.

"He didn't know how to boil water," Kevin said. "He never had to -- Mom was always there for him."

Courtesy of Kevin McLaughlin

"They were inseparable," he added. "They just enjoyed life to the fullest."

Also on HuffPost:

Most Emotional Wedding Pics

Popular in the Community

Close

HuffPost Shopping’s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE