I WAS REALLY CLOSE. ASHLEY: WHAT A BITTERSWEET LOVE STORY. THIS IS TRULY A LOVE STORY FOR THE AGES. YOU MAY REMEMBER WE CELEBRATED BOTH JUNE AND HERBERT TURNING 100 THIS SUMMER. THE MALICOTE’S DAUGHTER JO TELLS ME HER FATHER WAS A GENTLEMEN UP UNTIL THE VERY END, MAKING SURE HIS BRIDE OF ALMOST EIGHT DECADES DIDN’T GO FIRST OR ALONE. >> IT’S ONE FOR THE AGES. IT JUST SIMPLY IS. HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR A STORY LIKE THIS? ASHLEY: YOU MAY HAVE READ OF FAIRYTALE LOVE STORIES OR EVEN SEEN THEM IN A MOVIE. BUT FEW ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO EXPERIENCE THE LOVE THAT HUBERT AND JUNE MALICOTE SHARED FOR AS LONG AS THEY DID. THEIR DAUGHTER JO AND HER SIBLINGS HAD A FRONT ROW SEAT. >> IT WAS A FAIRYTALE OF JUST HAPPINESS. WE ARE THE THREE MOST BLESSED CHILDREN EVER. ASHLEY: 79 YEARS OF MARRIAGE, THREE CHILDREN, SEVEN GRANDCHILDREN, AND 11 GREAT GRANDCHILDREN LATER, THE TWO YOUNGSTERS WHO MET AT CHURCH AND MARRIED IN 1943, JUST BEFORE HUBERT WAS SHIPPED OFF TO WAR, LOVED EACH OTHER UNTIL THEIR DYING DAY. >> I JUST THINK DAD WAS, HE WAS AWARE THAT MOM’S TIME WAS LIMITED, AND I JUST BELIEVE THAT HE WAS READY TO GO WITH HER. ASHLEY: IN AUGUST, JUNE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A HEART CONDITION. DOCTORS SAID SHE PROBABLY WOULDN’T MAKE IT PAST THE END OF THE YEAR. JUNE BECAME ILL WITH A UTI IN OCTOBER AND NEVER FULLY RECOVERED. JO SAYS HER FATHER WAS THE PICTURE OF HEALTH AT HIS AGE, BUT SAYS HE DIED OF A BROKEN HEART. >> HE LITERALLY, I THINK, JUST WILLED HIMSELF TO GO ON AHEAD OF HER AND HE WENT 20 HOURS AHEAD OF HER. ASHLEY: HE HELD HIS WIFE’S HAND ON HIS DEATH BED. JO SAYS THE FAMILY COMFORTED THEIR MOTHER IN HER FINAL HOURS. >> WE SANG TO HER, WE READ SCRIPTURES TO HER, AND WE GAVE HER PERMISSION TO GO ON, TO BE WITH DADDY. ASHLEY: CHILLS THERE. JO SAYS A WEEK LATER SHE’S STILL TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED MENTALLY, SPIRITUALLY, AND PHYSICALLY TO HER FATHER FOR HIM TO GO SO FAST, BUT SHE KNOWS WHERE HER PARENTS ARE AND THAT THEY ARE TOG
Ohio couple who celebrated 79 years of marriage die hours apart
Updated: 5:26 AM CST Dec 7, 2022
It’s a love story for the ages.You may have read fairytale love stories or seen them in a movie, but few are lucky enough to experience the love that Hubert and June Malicote shared for as long as they did.Their daughter, Jo, and her siblings had a front-row seat.”It was a fairytale of just happiness. We are the three most blessed children ever,” she said.The two youngsters met at church and married in 1943, it was just before Hubert was shipped off to war. Seventy-nine years of marriage, three children, seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren later, the pair loved each other until their dying day.”I just think dad was, he was aware that mom’s time was limited and I just believe that he was ready to go with her,” Jo Malicote said.In August, June was diagnosed with a heart condition. Doctors said she probably wouldn’t make it past the end of the year.June became ill with a UTI in October and never fully recovered.Jo said her father was the picture of health at his age, but says he died of a broken heart.”He literally, I think, just willed himself to go on ahead of her and he went 20 hours ahead of her,” Jo said. He held his wife’s hand on his deathbed. Jo says the family comforted their mother in her final hours.”We sang to her, we read scriptures to her and we gave her permission to go on, to be with daddy,” Jo said.
It’s a love story for the ages.
You may have read fairytale love stories or seen them in a movie, but few are lucky enough to experience the love that Hubert and June Malicote shared for as long as they did.
Their daughter, Jo, and her siblings had a front-row seat.
“It was a fairytale of just happiness. We are the three most blessed children ever,” she said.
The two youngsters met at church and married in 1943, it was just before Hubert was shipped off to war.
Seventy-nine years of marriage, three children, seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren later, the pair loved each other until their dying day.
“I just think dad was, he was aware that mom’s time was limited and I just believe that he was ready to go with her,” Jo Malicote said.
In August, June was diagnosed with a heart condition. Doctors said she probably wouldn’t make it past the end of the year.
June became ill with a UTI in October and never fully recovered.
Jo said her father was the picture of health at his age, but says he died of a broken heart.
“He literally, I think, just willed himself to go on ahead of her and he went 20 hours ahead of her,” Jo said.
He held his wife’s hand on his deathbed. Jo says the family comforted their mother in her final hours.
“We sang to her, we read scriptures to her and we gave her permission to go on, to be with daddy,” Jo said.
