Even in death, they do not part

Lifelong Tampa residents Cesario and Lucy Corrales celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary on Sept. 5. Three days later, Lucy Corrales, 82, died of a heart attack. It was sudden and unexpected.

Forty-three hours later, Cesario Corrales, 87, heartbroken after hearing of his wife's passing, also died.

They left a far-flung family grief-stricken and in shock.

"They were married for 62 years, and they could not be without each other," said daughter Lisa San Martin. "He was her right hand. She was his right hand."

Both died at Tampa General Hospital, with just a couple of floors separating them at the end.

They were born in Tampa and both worked in Ybor City in the 1950s. She was a secretary, and he worked in a cigar factory, said her cousin, Bebe Lindquist, as relatives gathered in the Corrales family home in Carrollwood, now suddenly unoccupied.

Pictures of the couple adorn the walls. They are together in most of them: here a soft-focus portrait of the two when they got engaged and there a large wedding photo, him smiling in a tuxedo, her resplendent in flowing white gown.

Lindquist continued with her story about when the Corraleses were newlyweds:

"They only got a half-hour for lunch," Lindquist recalled. At the time, they lived in Seminole Heights. "They would rush home and fry up two eggs. They would eat them standing up and then rush back to work."

Lucy Corrales took a job with Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts where she worked for 40 years. Cesario Corrales, a veteran of World War II, made a career at General Cable.

Both continued to live in their Carrollwood home, where they moved in 1982, until last week. A caregiver came by each day to do a little cooking and cleaning, but "both were fine mentally," said San Martin, who now lives in Orlando with her husband.

"Mom never had any heart trouble," she said. But on Sept. 6, she suffered a heart attack and was taken to Tampa General. Cesario Corrales was taken to a relative's home. Four hours later, he developed a fever and chills and he also was taken to Tampa General.

Lucy Corrales underwent surgery that appeared to be successful, but Cesario Corrales was in trouble. He had respiratory problems and coupled with a cardiac issue that he was under treatment for, he began to slip.

"I knew when we brought Dad in," San Martin said, "that this might be it for him."

Lucy Corrales came out of surgery and seemed OK. She had stabilized and she was no longer in pain. She told her daughter to go home, she would see her in the morning. Then, the call came at 1:18 a.m. on Sept. 8. Lucy Corrales had unexpectedly died.

Delivering the news to her ailing father was difficult, San Martin said.

"At first, he just shook his head," she said, tears brimming in her eyes. "Then he broke down. 'I should have gone first,'" he told her.

Less than two days later, he followed his wife in death.

"Mom always said, 'I can't live without your father,'" San Martin said.

The funeral home that handled the arrangements collected Lucy and Cesario Corrales from the hospital.

"They arrived there together," San Martin said. "And they left together."