The love that led a couple to stand in front of a train

Earl and Mary Myatt met at a party when they were 17.

"It was one of those instant loves," said their son, Brad Myatt, 30.

His parents were married for 42 years.

Their marriage and lives ended Sunday when they stood in the path of a CSX train in the Madison County town of Verona. They were both 59.

Earl and Mary Myatt, of Oneida, were hardworking parents who doted on their children and then their grandchildren. He loved to golf. She loved to fish and make sandcastles at Verona Beach.

But their story is one where the complications of age and illness came early: Mary Myatt had a brain aneurysm in January, her son said.

She spent a month in intensive care at Upstate University Hospital, Brad Myatt said. Mary Myatt had multiple surgeries on her skull. The last was two weeks ago, her son said.

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