'I want my wife' | Family remembers grandparents who died after Denny's sign crushed car in Elizabethtown

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Kentucky family is remembering the lives of their grandparents, who died after a Denny's restaurant signed fell on the car they were in last week in Elizabethtown.

The victims are Lillian and Lloyd Curtis of Columbia, Kentucky.

Lloyd Curtis, 77, died early Monday morning at home in hospice care. He was in hospice care following open heart surgery just three days before the incident.

His wife, Lillian Curtis, 72, died the same day as the incident. 

The couple was married for more than 50 years and died four days apart. It has been an emotional rollercoaster for their family. Loved ones said the couple couldn't survive without each other, and they find comfort knowing they are reunited.

"When the hospice nurse asked him what his wishes were, and he said, 'I want my wife,'" Mary Howard remembers her grandfather said.

Howard remembers the love her grandparents shared, joking that the two nitpicked each other, but also cared for each other in the most loving way.

"He didn't want to do this life without her," Howard said.

While the family prepared for Lloyd's death, getting him home to hospice care, the shock of losing both has been indescribable.

"That wasn't how it was supposed to be, it, it shouldn't have been either of them, but it definitely shouldn't have been Granny either," said Howard.

Howard said her family has spent their days praying while remembering the couple, but reality still has not sunk in.

"I'm not sure that I would know how they met, and you know, I think that's just another part of the tragedy of all of this," she said.

The two will be buried together at the end of this week.

"I think that it's very honored that the two of them will get to share this funeral together," Howard said.

In the midst of planning arrangements, Howard remembers the love they shared, and will use that to help her move forward.

"It's not that fairytale stuff, but it was real," she said. "And it being real, is what sewed into the rest of us how, you know, to navigate our own marriages, because it's not always pretty, but you get through it together."

Lillian and Lloyd had three children together, and 19 grandchildren, including three great-great grandchildren.