When Washington state troopers approached the wreckage of a deadly car accident on Sunday, they found a touching, if tragic, scene: the elderly couple inside the wreck – the man dead and his wife dying – were holding hands.

“You don’t see that every day,” Trooper Rob Spencer told KREM TV. “We actually had to ask her to let go of him, so we could get him out of the car.”

Floyd Nordhagen, 92, and Margaret Nordhagen, 88, were married for 68 years and were popular members of their community in Spokane County, Washington. According to KREM, Floyd bragged about how pretty Margaret was, and how she would help him with the lawn mower when he had trouble pushing it.

“I don't know if they were holding hands before he passed, or if she grabbed him afterwards but it doesn't matter,” family friend “Britches” Peden told KREM. “They would have been holding hands if they could, so that's the way we all want to remember them.”

The Nordhagens are survived by four children, 11 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.