After spending 63 years together, even death could not separate an elderly Christian couple who lived their lives guided by their faith. They died just minutes apart.
According to a report by CNN, husband and wife Henry and Jeanette De Lange spent their lives helping others – he as a war veteran who served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and later as a firefighter and she, working for the Platte Hospital, caring for children.
Both Henry and Jeanette were very active in serving the Platte Christian Reformed Church in South Dakota.
It was learned that the husband and wife, who were both housed at the Platte Care Center, had been ill for a long while. Jeanette suffered from Alzheimer's and Henry from prostate cancer.
The couple's children immediately went to the facility to be with them when they were informed by the staff that their parents were in bad shape. Their family members were reportedly reading the Bible to them when they breathed their last.
Jeanette went first at 5:10 p.m. July 31, and when he was informed of his wife's passing, Henry went, too.
"She passed away very, very peacefully. Incredibly peacefully," their son Lee recalled. His brother Keith was the one to tell their father.
"Mom's gone to heaven. You don't have to fight anymore, you can go, too, if you want," he said. And Henry did, glancing at his wife one last time before resting his eyes. He passed away 20 minutes after.
"We're calling it a beautiful act of God's providential love and mercy. You don't pray for it because it seems mean but you couldn't ask for anything more beautiful," Lee said.
Their children share that their parents lived a very full life and that that their love, even in their passing, was a sign from God that it was the right time.
Describing his parents as "strong Christians who wanted to share their faith with others," Keith said Henry and Jeanette's amazing story was a testament of the strength of their faith.
"For them to be able to be a witness in life, also in death ... that's cool. Really cool," he said.
