A couple of elderly Greek-Australians died within a few minutes of each other, provoking grief and emotion in the community.
When the beloved wife of Christos Markogiannakis, Maria, passed away, he pressed her in his arms tenderly, it was said, and went out to smoke a cigarette to get away from his distraught feelings.
He waited a little while to see his older son, Nikolas, who was on the way and then he leaned over and gave his last breath, joining his wife in death.
“They said he died of heart. In cold death certificates they don’t write it when somebody dies of love,” Neos Kosmos said in a reportage.
Nikos Markogiannakis, Christos’ and Maria’s firstborn, told the newspaper, “My parents lived for one another. The father was never going anywhere alone. He had to have my mother beside him. It was obvious that my father could not live any longer without my mother.”
He added: “She was all his life. From the time I remember the world, from the village in Crete with the fields, the olive trees and the daily labor, until here in Australia, they have worked together, toiled together, enjoyed life together, so how could it happen not to leave together as well?”
(source: ana-mpa)