After nearly 7 decades together, this couple died hours apart on New Year’s Day

PORT HURON, Mich. – They met as young adults before spending close to seven decades together.

Then, just hours apart on News Year’s Day, they each died of natural causes.

“We just theorized my dad said, ‘I’ve got to go, but I’m not going without her,’” Bart Perry said of his parents, Robert and Janet Perry. “So, they left the same day.”

And that’s the way they always were, family members said.

Renae Perry,their only daughter our of five kids, called them “two peas in a pod” – Janet the “horse nut,” Robert the builder, and both of them givers.

Born a year apart in Buel Township, the couple married in March 1953, remaining in the Croswell area until their deaths Wednesday. He was 84, and she 85.

The Perrys had volunteered on local fair boards and attended the local Methodist church. Robert Perry (Bob, according to their obituary) started work on the family farm before venturing into entrepreneurship in constructing two manufactured home communities. Janet and Renae both worked with him in the office, while two of their sons worked outside.

Janet was also a 4-H leader, and the two bonded early over selling horses and horse trailers. Bart said the latter was how they met.

“They were good, honest, hard-working, local folk that met in high school because Dad had a horse trailer and my mom needed a horse taken to the saddle club in Sandusky,” he said Thursday. “She inquired about getting a ride and it turned into a relationship that lasted.”

Renae Perry said her mother’s love of horses also turned her into a “horse nut.” She recalled growing up on the property where her father would later build his first trailer park and where they sold horses and horse trailers.

She also remembers her father’s long-budding love for his communities, particularly the blue prints he kept rolled up and hidden when, as a child, she’d come for a kiss goodnight.

Bart Perry said his father was a “handshake deal” kind of guy.

“He loved immensely to build these communities,” he said. “Then, we had a big job in keeping them running.”

Married 68 years: Husband and wife die a day apart

Although the mobile home communities had become a family business, Bart said his father gave it up when his mother developed dementia three years ago. Instead, he said, Bob went to work as Janet’s caretaker.

“He did that until he fell sick in July,” Bart Perry said.

On Wednesday, Bob Perry died shortly before 11 a.m.

“It was unbelievable, I held my dad for his last breaths,” Bart said. “I knew my mother was having trouble after her hip surgery in the hospital. (But) it looked like everything was going to be (all right).”

Janet Perry passed four hours later.

“They both went peacefully,” Bart said. “No better way to go. Dad always said he’d like to go in his sleep.”

Renae said her parents donated their time to people both in public and in their communities – two hearts “that gave and gave and gave.” It’s something now, she said, that she takes comfort in.

Funeral services for the couple are set for Tuesday at the Croswell United Methodist Church.

Renae Perry said they will be taken to the cemetery by horse and wagon.

Together, like in everything else.

Follow Jackie Smith on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Couple dies hours apart after nearly seven decades together