Husband, Wife Die 14 Hours Apart

Alexander and Leola Vance made a life together for nearly 64 years. This week, they died 14 hours apart at Schnepp's Health Care Center in St. Louis.

Their son Phil calls it a great love story.

The couple met in Algonac, where Vance was building barges for the military in 1941. He was 20, and she was 16. They married later that year and moved to the Alma area.

Parkinson's disease forced Alexander Vance to move to a nursing home in February.

Leola Vance had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Earlier this month, she began complaining that her head hurt. It turned out she had bleeding in her brain.

By April 15, both were in a coma in the nursing home.

Alexander Vance died Wednesday morning. Family members were singing hymns in his mother's room later that night when she stopped breathing.