An Illinois couple that had just celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary died within 15 minutes of each other in hospice beds just a few feet apart on Friday.
Ruth Kretschmer, 90, and her husband, Bob Kretschmer, 92, died in their home in Medinah just five days after they marked 71 years in marriage, according to the Daily Herald.
‘They both wanted to die in this house and if my father went first, that wasn’t going to happen for my mother,’ said their daughter, Roberta Boston.
‘He hung in there for her. After she passed away, he asked why everyone was crying, then he passed away.
‘They worked it out between them, through the grace of God,’ Boston said.
Ruth Kretschmer, 90, and her husband, Bob Kretschmer, 92, died in their home in Medinah, Illinois just five days after they marked 71 years in marriage
Ruth Kretschmer was a local politician and former Republican who sat on the DuPage County Board’s zoning committee.
She also served 20 years on the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Ruth Kretschmer has been in hospice for two years before she died.
Her husband, Bob, was a World War Two veteran who was awarded two Purple Hearts.
‘They both wanted to die in this house and if my father went first, that wasn’t going to happen for my mother,’ said their daughter, Roberta Boston
He was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.
‘The arc of their two lives, terminating as they did within 15 minutes, meant they were meant for each other in this life and the next,’ said Bobbi’s husband Roy Boston.
Another daughter, Ruthann Koenig, told the Chicago Sun Times that her father’s lung cancer spread to his bones and liver.
His beloved wife was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.
‘I’m going downhill,’ he told a friend, ‘but I have to hang on because I can’t let Ruth go to a home.’
Their three children took turns caring for them. They also hired helpers.
Just before 10am last Friday, Ruth Kretschmer stopped breathing.
Relatives said that when she did, it was almost as if her husband sensed it.
A caregiver ‘was holding dad’s hand, and she [the caregiver] was crying. He asked her what was wrong, and she said, “Ruth’s gone”,’ said Roberta Boston.
‘And his hand went limp.’
A hospice nurse was summoned to the home. Moments after she arrived, she pronounced Ruth Kretschmer dead.
‘She said, “She’s gone,” and she stood up, turned around, and said, “Oh my God, he’s gone”,’ Koenig said.
‘It was as if he was released from his duty.
‘As soon as he heard mom declared at 10:25, dad was declared at 10:26,’ Koenig said.
‘I believe to the bottom of my soul he hung on for her.’
The two met in suburban Chicago and married shortly after he returned home from the war.
By 1955, they had settled down in a house that he had built in Medinah.
Ruth Kretschmer was a local politician and former Republican who sat on the DuPage County Board’s zoning committee
While Bob Kretschmer was known as ‘the life of the party’ and outgoing, Ruth was considered very driven and serious.
She is remembered as being a loyal Republican who fiercely advocated for fair pricing for Illinois citizens by utilities.
‘Ruth was a trailblazer and role model for women elected and appointed to office,’ said Kirk Dillard.
Dillard heads the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversee the main transit agencies in northeastern Illinois.
‘The utility industry was a pretty male-dominated industry when she served.’
She earned a bachelor’s degree at DePaul University and also took classes at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Her husband, Bob, was a World War Two veteran who was awarded two Purple Hearts
She also helped Kazakhstan set up its utilities.
Koenig said her father ‘fought from Normandy till the war ended; he was in Czechoslovakia.’
‘Once, he was in a foxhole with two of his buddies, and he went to get a cup of coffee,’ Koenig said.
‘And while he was gone, a German shell came in. They were killed. He was saved by a cup of coffee.
‘He told me, “War is so random. I don’t know why I survived and the others didn’t”.’
After the war, he worked for a railroad and did carpentry work before going into the plastics industry.
The couple are survived by their three children, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.