As Memorial Day approaches, many people will be spending the day with parades, cookouts and honoring those who served.

For two Clearfield county siblings, this holiday will be a tough one, after they just lost both of their personal heroes.

“You got questions for them. And they’re not here,” Travis Hepfer said.

Travis and Mandi Hepfer try to push through the tears as they flip through the pictures of their parents they just lost a few months ago.

“They were each other’s rock through it all,” Mandi said. “They pushed each other.”

Remembering the good times always brings a smile. When Craig and Christine Hepfer met, it was love at first sight.

They were teenagers when they signed up for the air national guard in Clearfield, but what started as a love for their country grew into much more.

“He was going into go to guards for the weekend, and his mom was taking him,” Mandi said. “She was standing outside, and he told his mother that was the girl he was going to marry. They didn’t even know each other yet.”

The military couple married in 1984 and raised a family in Coalport.  But, they were called again to serve.

In 2002, Craig and Christine were deployed to Germany as part of operation enduring freedom. It was difficult on a family that was inseparable.

“Being young and not understanding the way the world was at the time. you don’t want them to go and everything like that,” Travis said.

After that tour, Craig was deployed to Iraq, but this time, he went alone.

“He said it was something he felt that he had to do,” Travis said. “He wanted her to stay here with us.”

It was the longest time the couple had ever spent apart, but in 2015 the Hepfers faced their biggest battle: cancer.

They were diagnosed just three months from each other.

 “It was heart breaking, and then to watch them suffer the way they did going through it,” Mandi said.

They found strength in each other, until Christine lost her battle to breast cancer last October.

“He didn’t want to be here without her,” Travis said.

 Just 9 weeks later, in January, Craig surrendered to the disease.

“You gotta… it’s been really hard… stay strong look forward because that’s what they would’ve wanted us to do, “Travis said. “You know don’t be sad for them, they’re in a better place now. And they’re together.”

 The Hepfer’s commitment to family and country is inspiring.

“They were definitely very strong to watch what they and overcome,” Mandi said.

Their children say the final battle brought them closer, and they hold onto every memory.

The Hepfer’s wanted their ashes to be spread across the family lot. 

On Memorial Day, their children will hold that final salute.