We all want to find this kind of love in our lives. We all want to find our soulmate.
Some people spend their whole lives looking for their other half, while others are lucky enough to find that person right away.
For Floyd and Violet Hartwig, it was the same.
They got married in 1947, and for the next 67 years, they were happy to be with each other. Even though that is amazing in and of itself, it was their last moments together that really showed how close they were.
After reading about their story, which was in the news in 2018, I was more convinced than ever that not only does true love exist, but we are all meant to spend our lives with someone.
Floyd and Violet Hartwig met when they were in elementary school and began a relationship that would last their whole lives. Floyd joined the US Navy when World War II started. During that time, the two people wrote each other hundreds of letters.
Here’s a piece of one of those letters, from May 1947:
“Hi honey, just a few lines from your lonely blue sailor. I love you so much and miss you so much. … Honey, I can’t wait to get out of here.
“It’s not for me, but I used to think the Navy was pretty cool. That was before I fell in love with the nicest girl in the world.”
After World War II was over, Floyd went back to his home country, and he and his wife bought a farm in California. After that, they had three children together.
Violet got dementia a few years ago, which was sad. Floyd took care of her at the couple’s home, but things got worse when Floyd was told he had kidney disease. Their children and grandchildren were shocked, but at the same time, Floyd and Violet’s relationship got even closer. After being married for more than 67 years, it was the last time they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Floyd, who was 90 years old, died in the hospital with Violet, who was 89, holding his hand. Just an hour after he died, Violet also went to the other side.
Their children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren were all around them. The people they left behind were sad to lose both of them so quickly, but they could take comfort in the fact that this is what Floyd and Violet wanted. It seems that they had even told their kids that they wanted to die at home together.
“They had a special bond, and I think that bond grew stronger and stronger over time. “Especially in the last months of their lives,” their daughter Donna Scharton says in a video made to honor their love story.
You can watch that great video here: