Act of love that ended in tragedy
86-year-old stumbles on his driveway. Then wife, 87, falls as she tries to help him... and they die side by side in 85F heat
A COUPLE who were together for 70 years died within yards of each other after they fell on their driveway on the hottest day of the year.
Former mayor Tony Williams, 86, was spraying weeds in his front garden when he tripped over and broke several ribs.
His 87-year-old wife Faith came to his aid and gently placed a cushion under his head, before she too suffered a fall and was unable to get up again in the heat, an inquest heard.
When she failed to reach them on the phone, their worried daughter, Dr Ruth Williams, rang family friend William Fawcett to ask him to check up on them.
He found the childhood sweethearts’ bodies lying face down on the drive in Welsh St Donats, South Wales. In his statement to the inquest, Mr Fawcett said he saw Mr Williams on the right hand side of the drive with a cushion under his head, while Mrs Williams was at the bottom with one slipper on.
The other slipper was still next to her husband’s body. The couple, described as a ‘great team’, were wellknown in their community and had served as mayor and mayoress of the Vale of Glamorgan.
They had lived in the detached home, which Mr Williams built, since their marriage 57 years ago. Cardiff Coroner’s Court heard they died on the hottest day of the year, with temperatures in South Wales reaching almost 30C (85F).
Detective Sergeant Phil Marchant, who investigated the deaths, said afterwards: ‘It was ridiculously, unbearably hot that day.’ Coroner Philip Spinney, who recorded a verdict of accidental death, said the heatwave on June 18 may have been partly to blame.
Mr Williams fractured five ribs
‘Very sad set of circumstances’
in the fall and had cuts to his feet, head and elbows, while his wife, who had osteoarthritis, suffered a head injury.
Experts said the fractured ribs would have caused painful and difficult breathing problems for Mr Williams. Dr Williams said her parents’ mobility had declined in the months before their deaths, with Mr Williams suffering a fall the previous year which required an operation to put rods in his back.
But she said her father, a former science teacher, had ‘started to be more mobile’ about ten days before he died after getting a three-wheeled walker.
Pathologist Thomas Hockey said: ‘The burden of natural diseases combined with high temperatures led to their deaths.’
Dr Williams said: ‘Dad had five cracked ribs and Mum a bump on the head so it’s no wonder they couldn’t get up and passed out in that extreme heat.
‘It’s a very, very sad set of circumstances and all so unnecessary – just because Dad was determined to try to spray some rather inaccessible weeds while it was dry weather.
‘They were childhood sweethearts and were a great team over 70 years. They served the community in so many ways and were wonderful parents. I miss their wise counsel.’
Former mayor Mr Williams, known as AJ, spent 48 years serving the council and was a long-standing chairman of his local Conservative Party. He was awarded an MBE in 2004 for services to local government and conservation.
Dr Williams said: ‘ Mum supported Dad in every way, not least when she was deputy mayoress and then mayoress during the opening of the civic offices in 1981. She organised and catered for functions in the mayor’s parlour herself, and dignitaries from other organisations were keen to be invited once they tasted her food Mum also instigated the mayor’s ball.’
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns paid tribute to Mr Williams, saying he ‘left a long-lasting legacy’ on his community.