TERMINALLY ill Tony King, 75, has died – on the same day the WWN exclusively ran a story about him marrying his long-time friend Valerie Tapsell.

Tony, well known in Wellington as a darts player, was told in February he had only three months to live after 18 months of ‘always being ill’.

Valerie became his full-time carer and some time later he received an aggressive terminal leukaemia diagnosis from doctors at Musgrove Park Hospital.

But with the help of family members, Somerset Registrars and local support company Need Some Help, the pair married at a ceremony at Tony’s home in Dorchester Road on March 12, giving him two weeks of married life before he died last Wednesday.

Tony and Val had been friends for ‘donkeys years’, seeing each other through marriages to other people, and Val lived for a while in Greece.

Both have been widowed and Tony was also divorced from a second marriage, so when Val came back to her home in Somerset after her husband’s death more than ten years ago, it was a great help to both of them because they had known each other so long.

Tony and Val began keeping each other’s company as ‘great friends’ after Tony’s 70th birthday party at Wellington Football Club, until the last 18 months when Val dedicated her time to being Tony’s full-time carer.

Tony’s funeral is at Taunton Deane Crematorium next Wednesday (April 10) at noon. The wake is at Wellington Football Club, where the couple were members.

Tony is in the chapel of rest at funeral directors Nick Friendship and Sons – anyone who wants to see him to say goodbye should phone them on 01398 324590.

On behalf of Tony’s wife Valerie and his brother Dennis, everyone is welcome to attend the wake and enjoy refreshments to remember him.