Couple married 74 years dies hours apart in Salt Lake City

Couple married 74 years dies hours apart in Salt Lake City

(Emy Yensen)


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SALT LAKE CITY — “As in life, Marcus and Madelyn would not be separated by death.”

That sentiment was written by Carol Bradford in her parents' combined obituary. Madelyn Yensen, 94, died on April 7. Her husband, 95-year-old Marcus Yensen, joined her in death just a few hours later.

The Salt Lake couple had been married for more than 74 years.

The pair met each other in 1940 at a dance studio when Marcus took a dance lesson from Madelyn. Just one month later, after a “whirlwind of romance” — which included a date that ran past curfew and infuriated Madelyn’s mother — they were married, said their youngest son, Byron Yensen.

“They were always together, and they were always very happy with each other,” Bradford said.

The two built a life together in a quaint, brick home in Rose Park where they lived since 1949 and raised their three children: Marcus, Carol and Byron. Marcus worked as an engineer on the Union Pacific Railroad and served in World War II in the Navy, while Madelyn was a devoted homemaker who gardened, cooked and sewed all of their children’s clothes, Byron Yensen said.

Last year, the pair renewed their vows the anniversary of their wedding, Oct. 17.

“My mother was very outgoing. She could meet you and in five minutes she would know all about you,” Yensen said. “My dad, he didn’t talk much. He would just smile and nod. She did all the talking.”

In his last months, Marcus had been fighting heart failure. Nurses told him he would die in March, but he clung to life, determined to at least live until April 1 so he could collect pension money for his wife, their youngest son said.


"They were always together, and they were always very happy with each other." Carol Bradford, daughter

“He didn’t want to die and leave her here,” Byron Yensen explained. “He wanted to take care of her.”

But Madelyn’s health took an unexpected turn on April 6. Her husband had called her to his side because he felt as though he was dying, said Emy Yensen, Byron Yensen’s wife.

“He said, ‘I’m going now, I’m dying, I can feel it,’” she recalled.

But to Marcus’ dismay, his wife had a seizure as she sat at his bedside holding his hand.

“That was the last time they saw each other,” Emy Yensen said.

She said the seizure struck without warning, but likely happened because Madelyn had been exhausted from trying to take care of her dying husband. After the seizure, Madelyn was bedridden and in and out of consciousness, but she held to life into the next day. Her husband was the same, but agitated and riddled with worry for his wife, Byron Yensen said.

“The hospice director said she’d never seen anybody cling to life as he did,” he said.

Madelyn passed away at 4:08 that afternoon in her home. To allow family members room to say their goodbyes, Marcus had been transported to a Salt Lake care center where he faded in and out of consciousness throughout the rest of the day. Emy Yensen said she could tell by his heavy breathing that he worried for his wife, but he was weak and slipping away.

“Dad always told us that he wanted to make sure that Mom died at home and was taken care of,” said Bradford, who went to see her father right after her mother’s death.

“I leaned over and whispered in his ear, ‘Mom has passed, and she’s waiting for you in heaven.’ I think after that, he knew he had accomplished what he needed, and he felt that he could let go.”


“He didn’t want to die and leave her here. He wanted to take care of her.” -Byron Yensen

Marcus Yensen died at 9:30 that night.

“Being the gentlemen he always was, and showing the eternal love they had together, Marcus held the gates of heaven open so Madelyn could walk in first, then followed her,” Bradford wrote in their obituary.

The calico cat named Moonpie, which the couple adopted after the cat persistently returned to their doorstep, still stares from the front porch window at Madelyn’s empty chair in her living room, Emy Yensen said.

“We can still feel them here,” she said, adding that she and her husband had taken care of the elderly couple every day for the past several months. “My husband and I are still in denial. We can’t accept that they’re gone. I still get butterflies and cry every time we come here, and we come every day.”

Their memorial service will be held May 9 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City. Their ashes will be spread in the church’s garden.

Byron Yensen said while it was a painful shock to lose both of his parents in a single day, it has been comforting to think they didn’t have to wait long for each other on the other side.

“It would have been very difficult for Mom or Dad to live without the other,” he said. “They really loved each other.”


Katie McKellar is a Dixie State University graduate with a bachelor of science in mass communication. Before interning at Deseret News, she reported and edited news content for Dixie Sun News, first as Photo Editor, then as Features Editor. Email: kmckellar@deseretnews.com

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