Gene Hackman and Wife Betsy Were ‘One of the Tightest Couples I’ve Ever Seen,’ Says Friend: ‘She Was Very Protective’

Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were “real life partners,” longtime friends and neighbors in their Santa Fe, N.M. neighborhood tell PEOPLE.

Married couple Daniel and Barbara Lenihan and their son Aaron, who knew the couple for years, are “shocked” to hear the news that Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies were found on Wednesday. “He was getting quite old,” says Barbara, 75, of the late Oscar winner, who turned 95 on Jan. 30. “We were trying to prepare ourselves for Gene’s demise.”

But now, “we are just stunned,” she says. Of Arakawa, who was 65 , Barbara adds, “She was so full of life.”

Several questions remain unanswered about the sudden death of Hackman, his wife since 1991 and one of their dogs (two more healthy dogs were found on their property). They had likely been deceased for several days, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office, and Arakawa’s body, found alongside an open bottle of pills, had signs of mummification.

“They were one of the tightest couples I’ve seen,” Aaron, 38, tells PEOPLE. Aaron recalls Hackman and Arakawa attending his and his brother Brendan’s taekwondo and soccer matches. A classical pianist, Arakawa would perform during gatherings of friends at their home, while Hackman taught the young Lenihan about painting.

“They seemed like real life partners, really, really close to each other, and they were both incredibly kind,” says Aaron. “They were always doing stuff for other people.”

Calling Hackman “the Renaissance man” and Arakawa “as sharp as he was,” Barbara recalls the couple being “very kind people. They got along very well. And we saw them in all kinds of circumstances, and Betsy’s really been great to him over the years, and he has too. As he aged… she was concerned about COVID, so he did not go out much.”

In “the last couple months” when Hackman was “essentially kind of home-bound,” says Daniel, 79, “he was really slipping there.” The Lenihan family saw the French Connection star less and less, they add.

“She was very protective of him in terms of COVID, so she’d always wear a mask when we’d see her out,” recalls Aaron. “But she was still trying to keep him as active and engaged and healthy as possible.”

He adds, “We loved them both very much, and we’re heartbroken about it… their relationship was fantastic.”

Hackman and Arakawa are survived by his three children, who he shared with ex-wife Faye Maltese. Their deaths are now part of an active investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office.