While gusts of up to 140 mph (225 km/h) screamed outside, Jerry Savage, 78, and his wife Marcia, 74, sought refuge at their Beech Island, South Carolina, home with family members.
He stated to the couple, who were laying in bed, “They were both fine, and the dog was fine.”
But Mr Savage and his father heard a “boom” a short time later when one of the tallest trees on their land toppled on top of his grandparents’ bedroom and killed them.
The ceiling and tree were all that was seen. At that moment, all I was experiencing was pure panic, he added.
Jerry was a carpenter and electrician who was known as a “doer,” and Marcia was a retired bank teller who was involved in her church.
After becoming lovers in their teens, the couple wed for more than 50 years. They had “immediate, and it was everlasting” love, according to their daughter Tammy Estep.
