An elderly couple from South Carolina lost their lives when a tree fell on their bedroom during Hurricane Helene, according to their grandson. Jerry Savage, 78, and his wife Marcia, 74, were found embracing each other in a protective, loving hug.

The couple was in bed at their home in Beech Island when the tree crashed down with a loud boom, as their 22-year-old grandson, John, described it. Just moments before, John had checked on his grandparents after hearing a concerning snapping noise.

“All you could see was ceiling and tree, John recounted, describing the panic he felt at that moment.”

When first responders arrived, they discovered the couple—childhood sweethearts married for 50 years—holding each other in bed, according to John. He shared that his grandfather had apparently heard the tree snap and turned to shield his grandmother, believing it was part of God’s plan to take them together. “When they pulled them out of there, my grandpa apparently heard the tree snap beforehand and rolled over to try and protect my grandmother,” he said.

“They loved each other to their dying day,” he said.

Although recent storms had affected the area, nothing like this had happened before,” John noted, referring to the event as part of one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. The hurricane has left a path of devastation across the Southeast, with North Carolina hit hardest.

Their granddaughter Katherine Savage, 27, mentioned how her grandparents—especially Marcia—would regularly help with her three sons and see them almost daily. “I haven’t even told my boys yet because we don’t know how,” she said.

Jerry Savage did all sorts of handy work, but he worked mostly as an electrician and a carpenter. He went “in and out of retirement because he got bored,” John Savage said. “He’d get that spirit back in him to go back out and work.” Their 54-year-old daughter, Tammy Estep, described her father as a doer and the hardest worker she knew.

Marcia Savage was a retired bank teller. “She was very active at their church and loved being there as often as she could,” Katherine said. “She had a beautiful voice and was always singing especially gospel.” Estep said her mother loved cooking for her family, making an awesome turkey for Thanksgiving and known for her banana pudding.

The Savages were among the more than 200 confirmed dead in this historic storm. Hurricane Helene is now considered the second-deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in the past 50 years, rivaling the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.