But two weeks ago their bodies did give up and maybe their will to live.
Elaine passed on a Monday. Three days later Daniel died.
"I think they both imagined they couldn't live without one another," daughter Deborah Meloni said.
93-year-old Daniel had been gravely ill for nearly two years.
In June, 89-year-old Elaine suffered a stroke.
A question lingers" did Daniel give up after "Sweetie" (as he called her) passed?
Daughter, Susan, says when she told her bedridden father that her mother had died, he closed his eyes and didn't say a word. It was the beginning of the end.
"The interesting thing to me is not that they died so close together, but that they held on for so long for the other," daughter Susan Lewis said.
The couple passed away at their Gladwyne home.
They moved here in 1965.
Daniel liked to garden and do yard work. Elaine liked to paint. They had different interests, but they had a love and a deep commitment for one another and their family.
"It's sad, but they had a long happy life in that home and we were fortunate enough to be there and help take care of them," Meloni said.
And they are a reminder of what this day means.
"If there is a day that you think about the people in your life who are important to you and maybe you tell them, they're important to you, whether they are your boyfriend or girlfriend, your spouse, your sister, or your kids. That to me seems like a holiday worth celebrating," Lewis said.
