A Mt Juliet couple died in a deadly storm that swept through their town early Tuesday morning. The couple was found side by side on a mattress that had been thrown from their bed.

James and Donna Eaton had been married for 58 years and the couple was a beacon of light in their community.  The couple’s grandson said that they were the best earthly example of what a marriage should like. “They showed Christ’s love and his sacrifice. They both loved our families through challenging times of life.”

“They were the ones we looked to when times were difficult, and they kept us pointed toward God and to be dependent on God,” the couple’s grandson also said.

The couple were active members at their church for more than 40 years, their pastor noting that the couple “represented the very best of First Baptist. To know them was to love them. They carried with them a happy spirit, and their love for their church family was a model to all of us.”

The Eatons fulfilled their earthly duties by being an example of what Christ’s love looks like. The love they shared with one another and the people they encounter will forever be engraved in the hearts of those they touched.

“To know that they were taken from us so quickly in a storm shocks all of us. We can also rest assured that Jim and Donna loved Christ and woke up with their faith becoming sight,” Pastor Phillip Dunn said.

Jim and Donna proved “till death do us part” wasn’t just a line from their wedding vows, but a lifelong commitment that would carry them to eternity, side by side.Their story reminds us all to be deeply rooted in love, the way Christ intended us to be.  It’s stories like these that reveal the love God has for us and how we can exemplify it through our own lives. As heart breaking as tragedies like these are, through darkness comes light, and a powerful message.