A Georgian couple married for 71 years have both passed away on the same day, with the husband passing into rest 12 hours before his spouse.
The couple identified as Marilyn DeLaigle, 88, and her husband, Herbert DeLaigle, 94, both died on Friday, July 12. They had six children together.
“Mrs. DeLaigle was married to Mr. Herbert DeLaigle for 71 years who entered into rest 12 hours prior to her,” according to a post on the DeLoach-McKerley-Prescott Funeral Home’s website.
Marilyn DeLaigle spent six years in Germany with her husband Herbet while he was in the Army “and lived in many States during his 20 years in the service,” according to the obituary.
She was also a Cub Scout Leader, a former flower shop owner and a lover of animals.
DeLaigle, according to his obituary, was a retired Master Sergeant in the United States Army.
“He worked alongside his wife at Marilyn’s Nursery, he enjoyed fishing, carpentry and raising a variety of farm animals,” DeLoach-McKerley-Prescott Funeral Home said. “He enjoyed writing and vacationing out West with his family.”
Marilyn and Herbert DeLaigle shared 16 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
Father of seven drowns trying to save two of his children carried away at beach
A man from North Carolina died while trying to rescue his children who had been swept into the water by a wave while walking along a jetty on Sunday.
The man identified as Johnny Lee Vann Jr attempted to rescue two of his children from the water when he began to experience trouble himself, the incident happened at Wrightsville Beach near the town of Wilmington. CPR was performed but Vann could not be resuscitated.
Capt. Jason Bishop of the Wrightsville Beach Police Department had told journalists that Vann, 35, was able to rescue one of his children but then found himself unable to stay above the water after he went back in for the second.
There were a number of people who witnessed the tragedy, including Andre Nel, a fishing captain.
‘I saw an African American gentleman sprinting towards the beach. And he dove into the water and went straight for the kid that was in the water. There needs to be a lifeguard station right here,’ Nel said.
‘If there was a lifeguard station right here yesterday, this would not have happened.’
Nel said that the jetty, along which the children were walking is particularly dangerous during high tide, and there are not enough warning signs.
The family, at home in North Carolina, are devastated by the loss they have suffered
Speaking on the incident, Johnny’s wife Dawn Vann told journalists, “We came from church and we went to the beach to have fun. We wound up having a tragedy. You couldn’t ask for a better person.
‘You could have took anybody else,’ she said. ‘I would’ve preferred to take me than him.’
‘He never hesitated,’ she said, speaking of her husband’s heroics. ‘He threw everything down – phone keys and ran out there.’
Others at the beach ran toward him when they saw he was in trouble, but Johnny’s only concern was for his children.
The family has now started a GoFundMe to help raise money for the funeral.
