Married 68 years, couple die just hours apart

A Wingatui couple married for 68 years died within 28 hours of each other.

Basil Goble (89) died at 3.30pm on Friday; his wife Christine (89) at 7.20pm the next day, Valentine's Day.

A friend of the couple, John Haddow, said that until last week, Mr and Mrs Goble lived together in the home they bought when they arrived in Dunedin in 1959.

Mr Goble was taken to hospital with an aneurism of the aorta last Thursday.

Mr Haddow said one of the last things Mr Goble said before he died was he was "looking forward to being in paradise with Christine".

The following day, Mrs Goble, who was admitted to hospital after a minor fall, said she "just wanted to die with Basil".

The couple were married at St Nicolas' Church, Portslade, Brighton, England, on December 24, 1940, while Mr Goble was on a short leave from the army.

Soon afterwards, Mr Goble was seriously wounded by a shell that killed two of his comrades and he spent the next four years in a German prisoner-of-war camp.

Mrs Goble was informed that her husband was missing in action.

Mr Haddow said when the couple were reunited, Mr Goble, who was 1.85m tall, weighed 44kg.

Mrs Goble spent seven years nursing him back to health. The couple never had children.

They came to New Zealand in 1957, moving from Auckland to Dunedin two years later when Mr Goble became head projectionist at the Regent Theatre.

They became Jehovah's Witnesses and for the past 50 years they were "very zealous" members of the Mosgiel congregation, often preaching door-to-door, Mr Haddow said.

"As much as they've had a very hard time, they were happy, outgoing people, very generous people and very concerned about other people. They have helped a lot of people over the years."

Mrs Goble had been virtually housebound for the past two or three years and Mr Goble would bathe her, dress her and put her to bed.

"The whole congregation is very upset. But we are very happy for them, that they lived for each other. They had a strong faith."