A recent Oregonian/OregonLive story refers to the deaths of Petra and Michael Mathers as shocking and mysterious, (“The last thing they wanted,” June 30). Why so?
Tightly bonded couples have been choosing to end their lives together since the dawn of history. Both in their late seventies, the Mathers were approaching current life expectancy. While they may have been reasonably healthy for their ages, it is a time of life when the probability increases that an incapacitating event - a stroke, a fall, who knows what else - can render one a prisoner in one’s own body.