Beloved elderly couple dies in car crash in Maryland
Thurmont couple’s 70-year love story ends after crash
A tight-knit Maryland community is mourning the loss of Ken and Marilyn Oland, a Thurmont couple married for 70 years who died days after a crash on Route 15.
FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. - A Maryland community is in mourning after a couple married for 70 years died following a car crash.
What we know:
Kenneth and Marilyn Oland died Monday in a Baltimore hospital, six days after being injured in a car crash on Route 15 just south of Thurmont.
The pair had been married since 1955, and moved to Thurmont in 1963. The couple raised three children, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Ken was driving at the time of the accident. They were T-boned by another car while pulling out onto Route 15 south of town.
They died Monday after being taken off life support, in their hospital beds side by side, holding hands.
What they're saying:
Family members say they are saddened by the loss but comforted that Ken and Marilyn died together.
"If there’s one thing we could share about my grandparents, it’s not only the 70 years they’ve had together and that they chose to be together every day and chose to go away together and leave this earth together. Their legacy is just how to be humans — be humble and kind and graceful to others and help strangers in need," said granddaughter Kristie Hopkins.
The Olands were regulars at the Thurmont Senior Center and enjoyed bingo twice a month.
"They had just left the center 15 minutes before that accident happened. He ate lunch here every day, so we got to see each other almost every day. And it’s a big void here. We’re all sad," said friend Nancy Rice.
The couple were also regulars at Kountry Kitchen Restaurant, known by staff and friends they dined with routinely.
"Oh Ms. Marilyn, she made this pumpkin pie with raisins in it. That was absolutely phenomenal. She’d bring it to us at Thanksgiving, and everybody — my husband — loves it. And she always made this salad. It’s called the heavenly orange fluff salad that she made, and it was fantastic," said Sherry Myers, owner of Kountry Kitchen Restaurant.
"Just totally heartbroken. Just can’t believe it. We just saw them, and then not. And it’s really sad. I don’t think one could’ve lasted without the other. That’s how tight they were," said friend Nancy Echard. "You always saw them together, no matter where you were."