KILLEEN, Texas — Louise Petrey loved her husband of 68 years and stood by his side everyday. When Clifford Petrey died Thursday, she said her days became a little more tough.
Her husband was 91 years old when he died. He had spent four months in a nursing home while battling dementia. Louise Petrey says that is what took him first.
Sgt. Clifford Petrey served in multiple wars, was a POW in the Korean War and suffered multiple injuries, earning him multiple Purple Hearts.
Louise Petrey remembers him as a man who would tell everyone the truth.
"When you lose your love, life stops, it stops dead in its tracks and you learn to walk again but you never forget" Petrey said.
She looks back fondly on the night they were married. He shared everything with her that had happened to him when he was a POW in the Korean War.
From then on, she understood and shared his experience. She said she is thankful for the moments that they have had together.
"I'll never forget him," she said. "I'll always love him, and someday, I will meet him."
Their last moments are ones she and her son will never forget.
"He just told me how proud he was, how much he loved me, and I will never forget," Lee Petrey, their son, said.
Louise Petrey said she will continue on.
"My husband survived what he went through for many years and I will survive," she said.
A viewing will be held Tuesday at the Crawford and Bowers Funeral Home from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
A Committal Service with Full Military Honors will happen Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.