They were married for 45 years and died a few minutes apart.

Two seniors with nearly 45 years of marriage died within minutes, their families said.

Clair "Cos" Vance visited the retirement home where her 70-year-old wife Jeanne lived with health and mobility problems. However, the visits stopped last week when he had been hospitalized for an illness resembling the flu.

When her condition began to deteriorate, Jeanne spoke on the phone with her husband, who was 75 years old. He spoke with him for the last time a few minutes before his death on Sunday night.

One of the couple's daughters was with his father when he died. He asked his aunts to go home to inform his mother, but when they arrived they found Jeanne Vance dead in her room.

They were buried together on Friday.