Just like Noah and Allie’s heartwrenching love story from Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook, an elderly couple who were married for 69 years died just hours apart.

Gene Warrington, 88, passed away eight hours before his beloved 86-year-old wife, Pat, died on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014 in Findlay, Ohio.

'the notebook'
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James Garner and Gena Rowlands in ‘The Notebook.’

Their son, Phil Warrington, told the publication his father was able to visit Pat’s hospice room to hold her hand the night before they passed. Gene recognized his wife was in critical condition and decided to remove his own intravenous tubes the next day because “life wouldn’t be fun anymore,” Warrington explained.

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Gene and Pat met in junior high school and married when they were teenagers. Their son noted the ending of their love story was almost predictable, as the couple had done everything together the past 69 years.

‘The Advertiser-Tribune’ first reported this story.