Husband, Wife Die in Shooting

Hours after returning home from a hospital where he had undergone a second bypass surgery, a Leisure Village resident fatally shot his wife of 56 years before taking his own life, authorities said Monday.

The couple, described by a family member as childhood sweethearts, were identified as Schuyler Sanborn, 75, and his wife, Esther, 76. Sheriff’s investigators speculated that failing health may have prompted the apparent murder-suicide.

Glynis Sanborn, 46, found the bodies of her parents Saturday about 9 p.m. when she stopped by the retirement community to bring them dinner. She said she was at a loss to explain her father’s actions.

“Whatever he did,” she said, “he did out of love.”

She said she had last seen her parents Friday night, after her father returned home from the hospital. She said he seemed tired, but not depressed or upset.

“The surgery had gone well,” Glynis Sanborn said. “It’s really hard to understand. They were the most loving couple. They were basically inseparable.”

Neighbors and authorities said Schuyler Sanborn had become the main caretaker of his wife as her health deteriorated in recent years. She walked with a cane and appeared to be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

The couple met in elementary school in Portland, Ore. They separated in high school, but were reunited before graduation when friends set them up on a blind date. They were married in 1942.

“They were childhood sweethearts, right from the beginning,” Glynis Sanborn said. The couple moved to California in 1953, eventually settling in Ventura County, where they raised two daughters and two sons.

They loved dancing--especially square dancing and ballroom dancing, relatives said. Schuyler Sanborn, a retired civil engineer, would often put his arms around his wife and sing her a song, they said.

“They were the most ideal couple,” said grandson Paul Robinson, 26--one of 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. “They held each other, they would look into each other’s eyes. He would sing to her. I idolized them.”

Neighbor Joseph Redman, 82, said Schuyler Sanborn occasionally spoke about his heart problems or his wife’s failing health. But he never seemed upset, Redman said.

“We talked about health a lot,” Redman said. “That’s what you do at our age. But he always seemed pretty up. I wondered how he did it sometimes.”

Redman said he tried to understand the decision to commit such an act.

“She was sick, and he was sick,” Redman said. “I imagine maybe they talked about it and thought better to do that than wait around to die.”

Despite the police account, Glynis Sanborn said she did not want to speculate on what may have happened.

She said she will hold onto memories such as the one from last Thursday, when, during a visit to the hospital, her 3-year-old daughter examined her grandfather with her toy medical bag. He smiled as the little girl adjusted his pillow.

“I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly why this happened,” Sanborn said. “For whatever reason, this decision was made. We loved them, and we’ll miss them.”