Eva and Bill Darrah died within 17 hours of each other. Photo / Supplied
Eva and Bill Darrah died within 17 hours of each other. Photo / Supplied
William and Eva Darrah couldn't bear to live without each other - and, after 76 years of marriage, the couple died within hours of each other at their Thames home.
Eva, 97, slipped away just after midnight on Thursday. Just 17 hours later William (Bill), 94, also passed away. Both died of natural causes. "Dad didn't want to live without her and she didn't want to live without him. They had said for years 'we want to go together'," said the couple's daughter Jan.
"Dad knew he had lost Eva ... he just looked and held her."
The couple said farewell to their house and beautiful garden - home to a newly-planted Dublin Bay Rose - for the last time on Saturday, when the hearse carrying their mahogany coffins briefly stopped outside on the way to the crematorium.
Eva had recently planted the rose to replace a climbing rose that had died.
"When she first came [to Thames] she put in a climbing rose ... it was beautiful and it died recently and she's had to replace it. We were all sad because she will never get to see the rose," said Jan.
Bill and Eva had six children, 24 grandchildren, 29 great grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.
The couple met and fell in love in Tairua in about 1938.
Eva was working at her parent's general store, the only store in Tairua at the time. Bill had just moved to the beach town from Hikutaia, near Thames, to work on the Cory-Wright farm, which involved delivering meat to local homes on his pushbike.
By 1941 they were married, a milestone they celebrated at home in July this year with their 76th wedding anniversary. And, despite being unwell, Bill made it out of bed to share the special occasion with Eva.
The couple spent much of their life together working on farms, which began with milking cows on Eva's family's farm - the Beach family farm - in Tairua.
"When they first started [the milking] was all by hand. Mum worked alongside dad," said Jan.
They took over Bill's father's dairy farm at Turua, just out of Thames, in 1942 where they stayed until their retirement in 1978.
Bill and Eva then moved to Thames township where they have lived ever since.
Bill Darrah, pictured taking one of his horses through its early morning training run at the track he built on his property near Thames. Photo / Alan Gibson
Bill's main interest became breeding and training trotting horses on a little block of land in Kopu, where he built his own track. He turned out a number of winners including Iwi Alex who won 10 races and just over $100,000 in purses.
"He never stopped until three months ago," said Jan. "He went out every morning for his horses, his chooks, his pigs."
The couple loved rugby and their family. They also loved their horses and enjoyed taking them to Cambridge and Alexandra Park in Auckland.
When this became too much for Eva, she stayed at home and watched the races on TV.
Right up until a week before she died, Eva would wake up with Bill at about 5.30am every day and go out in the dark on her walker to collect the New Zealand Herald from the letterbox.
She spent her days tending to her garden and cooking recipes she found in the newspaper and magazines.
"They always had a steady stream of people through the house. I think that is what has kept them going over the years too, the visitors. And there was always something in the cake tins," said Jan.
"They were great at supporting other people. Their home was a central meeting place."
Bill was heavily involved in the community, which included being a member of the Hauraki Plains District Council, founding member of the Turua fire brigade and a life member of the Thames Trotting Club.
But on August 3, Eva collapsed at home from sheer exhaustion from nursing Bill, whose health was failing. She spent the day in hospital before returning home.
It was from that night onwards that family members started nursing the couple around the clock.
