LONG BEACH, Calif., July 29 (UPI) -- A California couple described by their children as inseparable died within 24 hours of each other after 75 years of marriage, their children said.
Les and Helen Brown, both 94, of Long Beach, were high school sweethearts before they eloped in 1937 against their families' wishes. Helen was from a working-class family while Les' parents were well off.
The couple have three sons.
Helen passed away July 16, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, reported. Les, who was in a coma and unaware his bride had died, died about a day later.
"Mom had always said that she did not want to see Dad die and she did not want to live apart from him," the couple's son Daniel Brown said. "And so, it actually, in a way, worked out well in the sense that Mom passed away first."
Not only were they close to one another in death, the couple shared the same birthday, Dec. 31, 1918.
Les Brown was a photographer. Helen was a stay-at-home mother who also dabbled in real estate.
Their son said family and friends could never have imagined the couple apart.
"There was still a certain sense of inseparability there," he said.
