Floyd and Violet Hartwig shared a lifelong journey together, so it was only fitting that their paths would converge at the end as well.
According to their daughter Donna Scharton, the couple had a deep desire to depart this world together. “They wanted to go together,” Scharton revealed in an interview with CBC. “It was meant to be that way.” After 67 years of marriage and a childhood spent growing up side by side, Floyd and Violet embarked on a remarkable life that included raising three children, welcoming four grandchildren, and embracing the joy of 10 great-grandchildren.
As their health declined, their children made the decision to place them in hospice care together. Both had been battling serious ailments—Violet with dementia, which had progressively worsened, and Floyd with kidney failure, which left him with only two weeks to live. The hope was that they could spend their final moments in the comfort of their own home, united till the very end.
The Harwigs’ wish came true when they peacefully passed away within a span of five hours, their hands entwined. “We could tell my dad was in a lot more pain,” Scharton recounted. “We said, ‘it’s getting close,’ so we pushed the hospital beds together as far as we could. We put their hands together, and my dad died holding my mom’s hand. Mom was not coherent, but we told her that dad had passed away and that he was waiting for her. She died five hours later.”
The unbreakable bond between Floyd and Violet began during their childhood in Easton, CA. Fate brought them together again at a local dance hall, rekindling their romance. They exchanged vows in 1947, and from that day forward, they never bid each other farewell without a loving kiss. They nurtured their family on a small farm, cultivating cotton and raising turkeys.
“My mom called him Blondie because he had such pretty blonde hair and blue eyes,” Scharton fondly remembered. Even strangers who encountered the couple could sense the profound connection they shared. “They were dedicated to each other,” Scharton affirmed. “Even other people who met them said they had that connection.”
The family rearranged their living space, clearing the way for the hospice beds that would serve as the couple’s final resting place. When Floyd peacefully passed away, Violet’s loved ones assured her that it was acceptable to join him and that he would be patiently awaiting her arrival.
“What we felt was keeping them alive was the will to live, and that they didn’t want to let go of each other,” Scharton reflected. Although it was an immense loss for the Harwigs’ family to bid farewell to both their parents on the same day, they found solace in knowing that Floyd and Violet had been inseparable throughout their journey.
