(Image source from: Love is eternal for this couple who were married for 75 years})

Jeanette Toczko, 96 and her 95-year-old husband, Alexander Toczko, from San Diego, California, died just hours apart as they held hands in bed. They had a wonderful life, which both of them spent in love after becoming boyfriend and girlfriend when they were just eight years old. Jeanette and Alexander Toczko start 'dating' when they were eight and got married in 1940. They have five children and lived in San Diego, California.

After their wedding in 1940, Mr Toczko joined the U.S. Navy as a telegraph operator. He later moved to New York City with his family, where he worked for an advertising firm. In 1971, the Toczkos moved to San Diego, where he established his own advertising and fashion photography firm, Blue Sky. Mrs Toczko was his chief stylist.

The couple's daughter, Aimee Toczko-Cushman, told that the moment she told her mother that she had lost her husband, who kept a photo of Mrs Toczko at her Holy Communion in his wallet. 'I told my mother he was gone, She hugged him and she said, "See this is what you wanted. You died in my arms and I love you. I love you, wait for me, I'll be there soon".' 'Their hearts beat as one from as long as I can remember,' said Mrs Toczko-Cushman.

In early June, Mrs Toczko reportedly told her children that the date was June 29, the day she and Mr Toczko would have celebrated 75 years of marriage.'We said happy anniversary, and my mother was thrilled because it was their anniversary and she knew that he was going and that they had made it to 75 years,' said Mrs Toczko-Cushman.

Mrs Toczko-Cushman, and the couple's other children, Donna Tang, Richard Toczko, Lynne Edwards and Andra Toczko, then left the room, to allow their mother to say a private goodbye. Less than 24 hours later, Mrs Toczko herself passed away.

'Even the hospice nurse said it was the most incredible thing to see the two of them taking those last breaths together,' Ms Toczko-Cushman said of her parents, both born in Stamford, Connecticut.

Mr and Mrs Toczko were buried at the Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego on Monday.

By Premji