Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Married nearly 62 years, couple dies 4 hours apart

Couple

Melissa Sloan / AP

In this July 2014 photo provided by their granddaughter Melissa Stone, Don Simpson, 90, and his wife Maxine, 87, hold hands from adjoining hospice beds in Sloan’s home in Bakersfield, Calif. The couple, married 62 years, died four hours apart July 21, 2014, while lying next to each other, their family said.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — After nearly 62 years of marriage, little separated Don and Maxine Simpson — not even death.

The California couple died just four hours apart in July, spending their last moments side by side. He was 90 and she was 87.

Granddaughter Melissa Sloan tells The Bakersfield Californian that her grandmother died first, and when her body was taken away, Don Simpson's soul left with her.

The couple met at a Bakersfield bowling alley and married in 1952. A civil engineer, Don at one point worked for the U.S. Army in Germany.

The couple adopted twin boys from a German orphanage and returned to Bakersfield, where she worked as a nurse and he owned his own engineering company.

The couple was active with local civic groups. They are survived by one son and five grandchildren.

Click to enlarge photo

In this July 2014 photo provided by their granddaughter Melissa Stone, Don Simpson, 90, and his wife Maxine, 87, share time together in Sloan's home in Bakersfield, Calif. The couple, married 62 years, died four hours apart July 21, 2014, while lying next to each other, their family said.

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