Grandparents found hugging each other after fallen tree killed them during Hurricane Helene

An elderly couple was found dead while still embracing one another after a tree fell on their South Carolina home during Hurricane Helene. 

Together, rather than one suffering without the other

Marcia and Jerry Savage were found deceased together in bed. 

Family members said they believed it was God’s plan to take them together, rather than one suffering without the other. 

"When they pulled them out of there, my grandpa apparently heard the tree snap beforehand and rolled over to try and protect my grandmother," John Savage, the couple’s grandson, told The Associated Press. 

Dozens, like the Savages, were victims of trees that fell on homes or cars. Others lost their lives to flash floods, which destroyed homes, businesses and highway infrastructure across southeast appalachia. 

Who were Marcia and Jerry Savage? 

Jerry and Marcia Savage pictured together on Feb. 11, 2024. (Credit: Laurel Lindsay/Second Baptist Church of Beech Island)

Marcia, 74, and Jerry Savage, 78, were two of the more than 200 deaths that have been reported across six states — Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee — since Helene made landfall last week, according to FOX Weather. 

Jerry Savage did all sorts of handy work, but he worked mostly as an electrician and a carpenter. He went "in and out of retirement because he got bored," John Savage said. "He'd get that spirit back in him to go back out and work." 

Tammy Estep, 54, called her father a "doer" and the hardest worker she knew. 

Marcia Savage was a retired bank teller. She was very active at their church and loved being there as often as she could, said granddaughter Katherine Savage, 27. She had a beautiful voice and was always singing, especially gospel. Estep said her mother loved cooking for her family, making an awesome turkey for Thanksgiving and known for her banana pudding. 

Condolences posted on social media remembered the couple as generous, kind and humble. 

A GoFundMe organized for their funeral expenses says they were survived by their son and daughter, along with four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. 

Katherine Savage said her grandparents, especially Marcia, always offered to help her with her own three sons and would see the boys almost every day. 

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

The two were teenage sweethearts and married for over 50 years. Estep said their love was "immediate, and it was everlasting." 

"They loved each other to their dying day," John Savage said.

Helene aftermath 

Nearly a week after Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast, the destruction has left many without power and essential items such as food and water. 

Tens of trillions of gallons of rain fell and the staggering death toll made Helene the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. 

It also damaged water utilities so severely and over such a wide inland area that one federal official said the toll "could be considered unprecedented." As of Thursday, about 136,000 people in the Southeast were served by a nonoperational water provider and more than 1.8 million were living under a boil water advisory, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Many people are still missing people, and water repair employees don’t typically work around search and rescue operations. It takes a toll, according to Kevin Morley, manager of federal relations with the American Water Works Association. 

"There’s emotional support that is really important for all the people involved. You’re seeing people’s lives just wiped out," he said.