A South Carolina couple, married for more than 50 years and killed in the deadly chaos brought by Hurricane Helene, was discovered in their bed, their arms wrapped around each other in one final embrace.
Marcia and Jerry Savage had already turned in for the night when a large tree fell onto their home in Beech Island over the weekend, according to their grandson, John Savage. He said he’d just checked in on them, and then minutes later heard a horrifying crashing sound that again sent him to his grandparents’ bedroom.
“All you could see was ceiling and tree,” he said. “I was just going through sheer panic at that point.”
When he finally managed to clear away the debris, Savage said he found his grandparents still hugging each other. He believes his grandfather heard the tree snap before it fell and and “rolled over to try and protect my grandmother.”
Marcie and Jerry Savage, who were 74 and 78 years old, respectively, are among more than 180 people who died during Helene’s destructive tear across the south.
The monstrous storm system, one of the deadliest in U.S. history, made landfall in Florida late the night of Sept. 26 as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, bringing with it 140 mph winds, torrential rain and sweeping power outages. While it quickly weakened on its journey inland, Helene remained treacherous and continued to unleash devastation for days across several other states, including Georgia and the Carolinas.
Marcia Savage was a retired bank teller and was active in her church while her husband, who was also retired, often took on handy work and odd jobs in the community. He previously worked as an electrician and carpenter, his daughter, Tammy Estep said. She remembered him as a “doer” and the hardest worker that she knew.
The couple, who were high school sweethearts, had been married for more than five decades and had four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Their family believes God intended to take them together so one would never have to suffer without the other. Estep described their love as “everlasting.”
“They loved each other to their dying day,” John Savage said.
With News Wire Services
