Couple, ages 100 and 98, die unable to escape blaze

They lived together for more than seven decades. And in the end, family members say, he was trying to get to her side — but never made it.

California couple Sara Rippey, 98, and her husband, Charles, 100, died together Sunday in the wildfires ravaging the state.

Ruby Gibney, their granddaughter, told KTVU2 the couple were unable to escape the blaze. Her grandparents, she said, “are immensely loved and missed.”

They were married on March 20, 1942, the Napa Valley Register reported, and enjoyed playing tennis and golf. Just months ago, the couple celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary with their five children, according to the Register.

Napa County Sheriff John Robertson confirmed the couple’s death on Tuesday.

“Our thoughts are certainly with the family at this time,” he said.

As the fire approached, NBC Bay Area reported the couple’s caregiver tried to save them.

“She went down to get my father, and all the windows just started to explode, and (there was) smoke and heat and all that everywhere,” their son Chuck Rippey told NBC Bay Area. “She just couldn’t find them.”

Chuck Rippey discovered his parents’ bodies, NBC Bay Area reported. He said his father almost made it to his mother’s side.

The Register, which announced the Rippeys’ 75th anniversary, described Charles as a World War II veteran, who later worked for Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and Norris Industries. Sara, according to the Register, was a bridge player who oversaw the family.

“The only thing worse would have been if one survived without the other,” Gibney told KTVU2.