US couple married 77 years buried holding hands in single casket

MISSOURI, US: An elderly couple married for 77 years carried their love to the grave after they were buried together in a single casket in one of the most unusual interments.

According to the Columbia Tribune, Raymond and Velva Breuer died mere hours apart and were buried together in a single casket.

Their son told the paper that his father “jokingly” suggested the unconventional burial arrangement to nurses at Lenoir Woods Rehab Center, where he was staying with his wife.

The idea took off from there.

“Dad told one of the nurses before he passed, that if they went close together, that they should just be buried together, in the same casket,” Bobby Breuer told the Columbia Tribune.

“Jokingly, I think. But other people heard it and we asked the funeral director. Mother was a very small woman, and Dad wasn’t that big.”

Their bodies were placed close together in the casket, holding hands. Raymond and Velva were buried near their parents and other family members in Oak Grove Cemetery, the paper reported.

Even before their adorable final display of affection, Raymond and Velva were something of a local staple.

The Columbia Tribune noted that the pair opened up about their whirlwind romance during a 77th anniversary celebration in January.

The couple raised six children together, three of whom were sent to Vietnam.

Raymond worked for Ford while Velva, a homemaker for most of her life, took a job at a Ben Franklin store in 1960 while her sons served.

After Raymond retired in 1978, the couple moved to North Carolina for 16 years.

Raymond preached in the rural Warne community, served as a volunteer firefighter, taught at a local college and was president of a Gem and Mineral society.

They returned to Missouri in 1994, moving to Hallsville to be near one of their children.