Grandparents found hugging after being killed during Hurricane Helene

An elderly South Carolina couple were killed last week when a tree fell on their home as Hurricane Helene hammered the southeast.

Marcia, 74, and Jerry Savage, 78, were found hugging each other in bed after the tree crashed through the bedroom of their Beech Island home, killing them. Their grandson, John Savage, told The Associated Press he had checked in on his grandparents to make sure they were OK only moments before tragedy struck while Helene raged outside. 

"We heard one snap and I remember going back there and checking on them," the 22-year-old said of his grandparents, who were lying in bed. "They were both fine, the dog was fine." 

But soon after, Savage and his father heard a "boom" as one of the biggest trees on the property crashed on top of his grandparents' bedroom, crushing them.

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This photo provided to the Associated Press by Laurel Lindsay shows Marcia and Jerry Savage, who were killed by a tree that fell on their home and crushed their bedroom during Hurricane Helene. (Laurel Lindsay/Second Baptist Church of Beech Island, S.C.)

"All you could see was ceiling and tree," he said. "I was just going through sheer panic at that point."

John Savage told the AP his grandparents were found in an embrace in bed, adding that the family believes it was God's plan to take them together, rather than let one suffer 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," he said.

Marcia and Jerry Savage 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.

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Two trees rest on a car on Trenholm Road near the intersection with Churchill Circle after Hurricane Helene hit Forest Acres, South Carolina, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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. 

Several people remain missing or unaccounted for, although an exact number has not yet been released. 

Jerry Savage was a handyman who worked mostly as an electrician and a carpenter. He went "in and out of retirement because he got bored," John Savage told the AP. "He'd get that spirit back in him to go back out and work." 

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

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Marine One, carrying U.S. President Joe Biden, flies above a storm impacted area near Lake Lure, North Carolina on October 2, 2024. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Marcia Savage was a retired bank teller. Katherine Savage, 27, said her grandmother was active at their church and loved being there as often as she could. Family members recalled Marcia's beautiful voice and said she was always singing gospel music. Estep told the AP her mother loved to cook for the family and her recipes for Thanksgiving turkey and banana pudding were well-loved.

Friends and acquaintances of the Savages offered condolences on social media, remembering the couple as generous, kind and humble.

John and Katherine told the AP that for much of their childhood they lived in a trailer behind their grandparents' house. John and his father had been staying with their grandparents in recent years. Though previous storms had caused some trees further up in the yard to fall, "we had not had anything like that happen before," he told the AP.

For many decades, Marcia and John Savage welcomed family to their home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, while the large yard hosted several Easter egg hunts through the years.

A GoFundMe set up to raise money for funeral expenses said the couple is survived by their son Mark Savage and daughter Tammy Estep (Darrell), as well as four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

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Katherine Savage said her grandmother was close to her own three sons. 

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

John Savage said his grandparents were teenage sweethearts who were married for over 50 years. He called their love "immediate, and it was everlasting." 

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.