A lovestruck husband and wife who were married for 56 years fell ill and died holding hands within hours of one another.

Judy and Will Webb, both 77, passed away in a hospice on March 6, three months after Judy suffered an infection and Will collapsed with exhaustion from the stress of his wife’s illness.

After Will was put in a hospice in Southgate, Michigan, Judy requested she be moved there too.

Will and Judy Webb died hours apart in a hospice after 56 years of marriage (Picture: WXYZ)

Staff there pushed their beds together so they got to hold hands on their final day together.

The couple’s grieving daughter MaryBeth Webb told WXYZ: ‘When my dad died, my mom just kind of – she wasn’t responsive at all, verbally – but you could see her pick up her hand and she was rubbing my dad’s hand like, “I’ll be there soon.”‘

MaryBeth says her parents, who met when they were 14, ‘didn’t want to live without each other,’ and called their lifelong romance ‘a great love story.’

She told the News-Herald: ‘I’m happy that they went together and don’t have to suffer losing each other, but it’s still hard.’

During Judy and Will’s final months, the two would regularly endure health complications around the same time, with both experiencing multiple simultaneous heart failures.

The couple met at the age of 14, and rarely spent a day apart throughout their entire lives (Picture: WXYZ)
Will and Judy’s daughter MaryBeth, pictured, is devastated to have lost both parents, but says she is comforted that neither had to live without the other (Picture: WXYZ)

Will, who worked as a printer and hospital worker Judy leave behind three daughters, five children and four great-grandchildren.

MaryBeth says her parents rarely spent a day apart, and credits her parents’ devotion to one another for the close relationship she now enjoys with the rest of her family.

She added: ‘We just had a lot of fun – a lot of good times.’