Couple die on the same day after 61 years of marriage

A New Zealand Couple died peacefully nine hours apart from each other, just one year after celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary.

Peter and Ruth Bedford both died on Monday, May 14, nine hours apart from each other, one year past their 60th anniversary.

“It’s good they went together. They would have been completely lost without each other,’’ daughter Caroline Bedford told local news site, Stuff.

Bedford said her father was admitted to hospital on Saturday evening.

“I think Mum decided he wasn’t coming back,” she said.”She died at 10am on Monday morning and I got a message to Dad. He followed her about nine hours later,” she said.

Peter and Ruth Bedford, 86 and 83, were married on December 30, 1957.
Peter had emigrated to New Zealand, where he fell in love with Ruth, from Wellington.

The couple loved tramping together, music, and going to concerts.
The couple were well known in the Kaikohe community where they had lived since 1980.The couple are survived by their three children Michael, Simon and Caroline, and two grandchildren.