Ohio couple, both 100 years old and married 79 years, die just hours apart

A Butler County man and woman who spent most of their lives together, married for 79 years, ended up dying just hours apart last week.

 Frances June and William “Hubert”  Malicote both were 100 years old when they died, according to their obituaries. Hubert Malicote died at 9:15 p.m. on Nov. 30 and June Malicote died at 5:40 p.m. on Dec. 1.

“As hard as it was, you could just feel their connection to each other and that they couldn’t, they just couldn’t be without the other. It was that simple,” Jo Malicote, the couple’s daughter, tells Dayton247now.com. “Life was not going to go on without the other. So how perfect that they should go essentially go together.”

Family members tell the Dayton daily news  the couple were doing OK but June because seriously ill on the night of Thanksgiving. June was taken to a hospice care facility.

June’s failing health was too much for Hubert, who “broke down,” Sam Malicote, 76, the couple’s son, tells the Daily News.

Hubert was admitted to hospice soon after June and the couple shared a room together before their deaths.

The couple met in 1941 and were married in 1943, according to their obituaries. While Hubert served in the Navy during World War II, June worked in a factory building torpedo parts.

After the war, the couple settled in Hamilton and Hubert worked at Diebold Inc. for 50 years, retiring in 1990 as a shop supervisor.

The couple are survived by three children, seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

“I feel sad, but I shouldn’t,” Sam Malicote tells the Daily News. “Who can expect to live a life like that? They lived a long, happy life together and they were devoted to God and the family.”