HAMILTON, Ohio — An Ohio couple, who “never had one quarrel” during nearly eight decades of a storybook marriage, died hours apart last week.
William Hubert Malicote and his wife of 79 years, Frances June Napier Malicote, were both 100 years old. Hubert Malicote died on Nov. 30, while his wife passed away the next day, WJW-TV reported.
The couple’s daughter, Jo Malicote Robertson, said she and her two siblings had a front seat to a tender love story.
Hamilton couple who turned 100, celebrated 79 years of marriage die hours apart https://t.co/ccMLfTtZjB
— WLWT (@WLWT) December 7, 2022
“It was a fairytale of just happiness,” Robertson told WLWT-TV. “We are the three most blessed children ever.”
The Malicotes were lifetime residents of Hamilton in southwestern Ohio.
According to online vital records, William Hubert Malicote was born July 23, 1922, in Jackson County, Kentucky. Frances June Napier, was born July 13, 1922, in Perry County, Kentucky.
They applied for a marriage license in Indiana in June 1943, according to The Indianapolis Star. They were married on June 8, 1943, WLWT-TV reported.
The couple settled in Hamilton, where Hubert Malicote worked as a machinist for Diebold for 50 years while June raised their three children.
“She was a terrific stay-at-home mom,” Hubert Malicote told WLWT earlier this year. “She made the girls’ dresses. She planted a big garden. She canned and preserved, and she was a good stay-at-home mom.”
It was a blissful marriage.
“We’ve never had a quarrel,” Hubert Malicote told WLWT. “We’ve never had one quarrel.”
Hubert said he met his future wife after he accepted an invitation to church one night.
“Miraculously the back pew was empty, so, we went in and they were all standing and right in front of us was a pew full of young girls. And, (June) looked around at me and smiled,” he told the television station.
After their marriage, Hubert Malicote joined the Navy and served during World War II.
In addition to their three children, the Malicotes have seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, WLWT reported.
In August, June Malicote was diagnosed with a heart condition, according to WLWT.
Hubert held his wife’s hand on his deathbed, according to the television station.
”He literally, I think, just willed himself to go on ahead of her and he went 20 hours ahead of her,” Robertson said.
Robertson added that family members comforted June in her final hours.
”We sang to her, we read scriptures to her and we gave her permission to go on, to be with Daddy,” she told WLWT.
Earlier this year, Hubert Malicote said the success of the couple’s marriage was to find things in common and emphasize the importance of family.
And never quarrel.
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