"May they rest in eternal peace, hand in hand, as they embark on their next journey together," reads the couple's online obituary.
An Alabama husband and wife who said "I do" 58 years ago have died hours apart, their grieving family said.
“Losing one parent is a nightmare but losing two, it will knock the wind out of your sails," the couple's daughter, Sherene Thompson, told WAFF-TV.
Katherine and Tommy Barron shared a love for country legend Conway Twitty.
“I always heard the story that momma picked daddy because he favored Conway Twitty. That was her favorite singer," Thompson said.
They started dating, and then eloped to another state to get hitched, their daughter said. That was in 1966.
The young couple "ran off in the middle of the night to Trenton, Georgia, and got married,” she said.
What followed was a marriage of love and fondness marked by common sense.
“I really don’t even remember hearing them fight. They just worked it out," Thompson said. The couple's daughter said she applied that wisdom to her own marriage.
The most recent additions to the Barron family were two great-granchildren. But Katherine had recently come down with COVID-19, and had already been struggling with dementia.
“My dad kept trying to get her to wake up and she didn’t," Thompson said. She died on Jan. 24 at age 79.
Tommy Barron was initially speechless, recalled his son-in-law Ricky Thompson, who has been married to Sherene for 14 years.
For "two minutes he didn’t say anything," Ricky recounted. "And then he comes out and said, 'Well, she’s not suffering anymore,'"
But within hours, Tommy Barron was gone as well.
The 81-year-old suffered a fatal heart attack, his daughter said.
The couple was buried Sunday.
"In the midst of our grief, let us remember the beautiful legacy of love and commitment that Tommy and Katherine leave behind. May they rest in eternal peace, hand in hand, as they embark on their next journey together," their online obituary says.
