Grandparents were found hugging after being killed during Hurricane Helene

An elderly South Carolina couple died last week when a tree fell on their home as Hurricane Helene swept across the Southeast.

Marcia, 74, and Jerry Savage, 78, were found hugging each other in bed after the tree crashed through the bedroom of their Beech Island home, killing them. Her grandson, John Savage, told the Associated Press he checked in on his grandparents to make sure they were OK just moments before tragedy struck while Helene raged outside.

“We heard a crack and I remember going back there and checking on them,” the 22-year-old said of his grandparents lying in bed. “They were both fine, the dog was fine.”

But moments later, Savage and his father heard a “boom” as one of the largest trees on the property fell onto his grandparents’ bedroom, crushing them.

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This photo provided to the Associated Press by Laurel Lindsay shows Marcia and Jerry Savage, who were killed by a tree that fell on their home and destroyed their bedroom during Hurricane Helene. (Laurel Lindsay/Second Baptist Church of Beech Island, SC)

“All you could see was the ceiling and the tree,” he said. “At that point I was in pure panic.”

John Savage told the AP that his grandparents were found in bed in an embrace, adding that the family believed it was God’s plan to bring them together rather than let one suffer without the other.

“When they pulled her out of there, my grandfather apparently heard the tree break beforehand and turned to protect my grandmother,” he said.

According to FOX Weather, Marcia and Jerry Savage were two of the more than 200 deaths reported in six states – Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee – since Helene made landfall last week.

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Two trees rest on a car on Trenholm Road near the intersection with Churchill Circle after Hurricane Helene struck Forest Acres, South Carolina, Friday, September 27, 2024. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Dozens, like the Savages, fell victim to trees falling on houses or cars. Others died in flash floods that destroyed homes, businesses and highway infrastructure in the southeastern Appalachians.

Several people remain missing or missing, but an exact number has not yet been released.

Jerry Savage was a handyman who worked primarily as an electrician and carpenter. He “went into retirement and back again because he got bored,” John Savage told the AP. “He would regain the courage to go out and work again.”

Daughter Tammy Estep, 54, said her father was a “doer” and the hardest worker she knew.

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Marine One carrying U.S. President Joe Biden flies over a storm-stricken area near Lake Lure, North Carolina, on October 2, 2024. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Marcia Savage was a retired bank teller. Katherine Savage, 27, said her grandmother was active in her church and loved being there as often as possible. Family members remembered Marcia’s beautiful voice and said she always sang gospel music. Estep told the AP that her mother loved cooking for the family and that her Thanksgiving turkey and banana pudding recipes were popular.

Friends and acquaintances of the Savages expressed their condolences on social media, remembering the couple as generous, kind and humble.

John and Katherine told the AP that they lived in a trailer behind their grandparents’ house for much of their childhood. John and his father lived with their grandparents in recent years. Although previous storms had caused some trees higher up in the yard to fall, “we had never experienced anything like this before,” he told the AP.

For many decades, Marcia and John Savage welcomed the family into their home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, while the large backyard hosted several Easter egg hunts over the years.

A GoFundMe to raise money for funeral costs said the couple is survived by their son Mark Savage and daughter Tammy Estep (Darrell), as well as four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

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Katherine Savage said her grandmother was close to her own three sons.

“I haven’t even told my boys because we don’t know how,” she said.

John Savage said his grandparents were teenage sweethearts who were married for more than 50 years. He called their love “immediate and eternal.”

“They loved each other until they died,” John Savage said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.