Always together, to the end and beyond.FL(tear jerker)

[bluedog]

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Always together, to the end and beyond
By LEANORA MINAI, Times Staff Writer
Published August 16, 2004

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PUNTA GORDA - Gordon and Joanne Hawkins were both 82, had been married for 64 years and weren't going anywhere.

He suffered from dementia and got around in a wheelchair. She was too devoted to him to put him a nursing home.

snip.......... Too determined to let a hurricane named Charley force them from their home of 20 years in the Crystal Lake mobile home park.

It was a decision that cost them their lives.

snip


snip

The couple were so independent they didn't trust banks and kept large amounts of money at home, neighbors said.

On Friday, as the hurricane swept closer, the Hawkinses and their son would not leave.
snip

About an hour later, Pares emerged from his house and went straight to the Hawkinses' property. Only the foundation remained. A black tennis shoe sat near a porch step. Their Oldsmobile was overturned, wheels up.





"And then we look, and there's his wife, face up," Pares said.

Gordon and Joanne Hawkins were lying next to each other next to an overturned truck.

"They were always together," Pares said. "He was always in the wheelchair, and she was always sitting next to him."

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/16/news_pf/Weather/Always_together__to_t.shtml

[trotsky]

1. Sure, it's sad, but it was SOOOO avoidable...

It didn't have to happen.

[beyurslf]

2. I live in KS where the sky can be clear and the day perfect

and half an hour later it is black and tornado is on the ground.

It is sad, but they had 3 weeks notice about the storm. What we would give for that kind of notice to a tornado....