After Six Decades Together, Couple Dies Within Hours of Each Other

After 64 years of marriage, couple dies within hours of Christmas, and each other

Just two days before Christmas, a Nashville family shrunk from four to two when beloved parents passed away in the same hospital room within hours of each other.

After being together for six decades, Trent and Dolores Winstead will now be together for eternity.

Trent and Dolores met in the 50s, and, aside from Trent’s time serving in the Korean War, were nearly inseparable for the more than half a century since.

Their daughter, Sheryl, explained to Nashville’s WKRN.com, “They were opposites from each other,“I think that’s what made them click.” Trent loved to fish, Dolores loved to cook, and they both loved each other’s company.

Trent proposed to his wife not long after they met, in as foolproof a way as possible, according to the couple’s son Eddie: while Dolores was a bit preoccupied in the bathroom! “In order to not get a no, I guess, he waits until she’s brushing her teeth to ask her to marry him.”

Trent’s kidneys began failing a few weeks ago, and he was admitted to Saint Thomas West Hospital in Nashville. Eventually, after standing by his side as long as she could, Dolores began suffering from headaches brought on by a brain aneurysm.

She ended up in the same hospital room as her husband, and passed away just a few weeks short of their 64th wedding anniversary.

Eddie broke the news to his dad, and just a few hours later, as if he were rushing to join the love of his life, Trent passed as well. “I told him, I said, ‘Dad, if you want to go be with mom, that’s quite alright with Sheryl and I… [I]t was kind of like his whole spirit just changed,” said Eddie.

As Sheryl said, “It’s like God made their travel arrangements and they went together. It’s just really sweet.”

It will be a tough Christmas for the Winstead family, who plan to spend it looking through old photos and reminiscing about their parents and their monumental love for each other, which spanned more than six decades and lasted until each of their final moments.

The couple had their funeral on Friday, December 23rd.

I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know if dying from a broken heart is even possible, but if there were ever a candidate, Trent might be one.