LEWISTON – Those who knew Gerard and Jeanne Jean said they were a sweet, loving couple who rarely left each other’s side during their 11 years of marriage.

That changed on Monday.

He died at 4:30 p.m. that day.

She died 10 hours later, Tuesday morning.

She was at the Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice and wasn’t told of his death. “I just think they couldn’t be apart,” said his granddaughter Denise Scammon of Auburn. “They were really love birds.”

He, 97, came down with bronchitis a few weeks ago. She, 82, was in ill health, having difficulty breathing and was on oxygen.

They had lived in Lewiston since they married in 1996. She was a widow, he a widower. They came to know each other while playing cards with a group of seniors, said his son, Gerard Jean Jr. of San Francisco, Calif.

He was a piano teacher who for years had a studio on Lisbon Street. “He played beautiful old tunes,” said Lorraine White of Minot. White is Jeanne’s goddaughter and niece. “She used to say, ‘It’s his music that made me fall in love with him.’ She enjoyed listening to him play.”

“She was a very sweet woman, perfect for him,” said Gerard Jean Jr. “People get lonely when they’re all alone. She comforted him.”

They married when she was 70, he was 85. “They were on their honeymoon ever since,” Scammon said.

Each summer they packed up their household and moved to a trailer at Taylor Pond. The trailer was small, not much bigger than a closet, Scammon said. “You have to really like each other to spend that much time together in that space.”

In the last year her health began to fail. Last summer, they moved to an apartment at the Clover Living Center in Auburn. Both looked forward to not worrying about their home’s upkeep and having help nearby. But the move was stressful to Jeanne, Scammon said.

At Clover, if she didn’t have the stamina to attend activities, he stayed with her. “He didn’t want to leave her side,” Scammon said.

A few weeks ago, he grew ill and had to be hospitalized. It hurt them to be apart, Scammon said. “They were very upset.” Other people saw it too, she said. “I was visiting my grandfather Saturday when one of the cleaning ladies came in. She said it was sad to see them apart, it was breaking their hearts.”

When Jeanne and Gerry did see each other, “They grabbed each other’s hands, kissed and cried,” White said. A week ago Saturday, White brought her aunt to see him. “He was so happy to see her.” Staff were treating him. When he saw her, “they had to stop.”

With their health failing, their deaths were not a surprise to the family, but members were struck by the timing. They suspected she would leave first.

“I said to my wife, ‘These things happen, an individual dies and the spouse often dies close together,'” said Gerard Jean Jr. “But I don’t know about anybody dying within hours of each other.”

The obituary and funeral arrangements will be complete today, according to Michael Martel of the Fortin Group of Lewiston.