Couple die hours apart after 61 years of marriage
<p>For 60 years, a couple lived happily ever after together. The pair were inseparable.</p>
<p>Even in death.</p>
<p>Peter and Ruth Bedford both died on Monday, May 14, nine hours apart from each other, one year past their 60th anniversary. </p>
<p>"It's good they went together," daughter Caroline Bedford said. "They would have been completely lost without each other."</p>
<p>Bedford said her father was admitted to hospital on Saturday evening.</p>
<p>"I think Mum decided he wasn't coming back," she said.</p>
<p>"She died at 10am on Monday morning and I got a message to Dad. He followed her about nine hours later," she said. </p>
<p>Peter and Ruth Bedford, 86 and 83, were married on December 30, 1957. </p>
<p>Peter had emigrated to New Zealand, as a "10 pound pom", where he fell in love with Ruth, from Wellington.</p>
<p>He was a rural man and a deep thinker, she eventually became a law clerk. But the pair were perfect for each other, Bedford said.</p>
<p>The couple loved tramping together, music, and going to concerts.</p>
<p>"Mum had a philosophical, intellectual brain and she loved to debate. And Dad was a big thinker too."</p>
<p>"They loved animals and they loved their garden," Caroline Bedford said. "They should have entered them into competition they were so good."</p>
<p>The couple were well known in the Kaikohe community where they had lived since 1980, and were heavily involved in the A&P Show.</p>
<p>Before then, the Bedford family had been raised in rural Manawatu. Caroline remembered growing up with sheep, cows, horses, possums, magpies, white rats, cats and a dog. </p>
<p>"They were very rural people. Well, Dad was. Mum liked the arts and socialising," she said. </p>
<p>"They were both fiercely independent. But very kind and helpful, especially in their community. </p>
<p>The couple are survived by their three children Michael, Simon and Caroline, and two grandchildren.</p>
<p>"They were very proud of their children and their grandchildren, I know that," she said. </p>
<p>Caroline said her daughter Cadence, 31, had said: "My Grandad didn't speak much, but when he spoke people listened."</p>
<p>Their funeral is on Wednesday at Squire Funeral Services in Kaikohe.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts?</p>
<p><em>Written by Laine Moger. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Stuff.co.nz</strong></span></a>.</em></p>
