After 72 years of marriage they had only an hour's separation between them in their passing, yet their locked hands never let go. The family of the Iowa couple say their life together was a real-life love story, never separated, even after their tragic car accident which sent them both to the hospital. 'They believed in marriage,' Dennis Yeager, the youngest son of Gordon Yeager, 94, and wife Norma, 90, told MailOnline. 'They chose each other and once they had committed, that was it.' The couple were both born in Iowa before Gordon Yeager moved to a farm a Minnesota with his family. After it was badly hit by the Depression, 16-year-old Gordon returned to work at the Chevrolet Garage in State Center, Iowa - a business which he would eventually go on to own. It was once back in the town, he fell in love with Norma who was still studying at high school. After his proposal, Gordon and Norma were married on the very day that she graduated, May 26, 1939. It was a small wedding held at 8pm that evening in the home of Gordon's sister, the expense of which was covered by the young man's first pay cheque. The newlyweds spent the first few years of marriage in California where Gordon worked as a welder in the shipyards during the Second World War while volunteering at night for the war effort. They later returned to the town of State Center and had four children - Donna who was born in 1940, Roger in 1943, Gordon in 1946 and the youngest Dennis in 1949. Tragically both middle sons Roger and Gordon later died in car crashes. The couple held hands at their funeral Tuesday, sharing the same casket. Their family says after they are cremated, their ashes will be mixed together. The Yeagers are survived by Norma's sister, Virginia Kell, and Gordon's brother, Roger, along with their children Donna and Dennis as well as 14 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.