D-Day hero still fighting fit aged 101
DIG FOR VICTORY Fit Roy A D-DAY veteran is still putting in long hours of hard graft at the age of 101.
Roy Cooper, thought to be the oldest surviving Royal Navy officer to take part in the 1944 invasion, is turning his garage into an annex and is landscaping his garden.
In eight-hour stints, he built a huge pond with a bridge, laying 1,000 bricks.
Roy, who had a heart attack five years ago, said: “God gave me a good body and I’ve taken care of it. I dig holes... I’m very active and I don’t need glasses.”
The ex car garage boss and hairdresser, married to Mary, 88, for 40 years, was a sub lieutenant on a minesweeper at D-Day.
Roy, from Marnhull, Dorset, said: “It was very dangerous work. I’m amazed I survived.” THE heartbroken fiancee of Melissa Ede said the Lotto winner was the “star of her own reality show” as she spoke at her funeral yesterday.
Rachel Nason, 39, laid her partner to rest in a style befitting her high-spirited personality. Mel’s coffin arrived at the service in a rainbow-coloured carriage pulled by white horses. Giant replicas of her winning scratch card and £4million cheque stood in the crematorium.
Mourners dressed in vibrant clothes as she was given “one hell of a send-off ”.
Celebrant Alastair Devine, sporting a multicoloured suit, told the congregation in Hull yesterday that Mel was a “terrible millionairess” who still loved a bargain despite her wealth.
Speaking of her bizarre YouTube videos, where Mel sang songs and hung objects from her chest, including mayonnaise, he said: “Yes, you may know her for getting her boobs out...”
Rachel wore a black sweatshirt at the service, with Mel Got Mayo printed on the back and a picture of two bottles hanging on the front, a
nod to Mel’s zany videos. She sobbed as she said: “Mel was the star of her own reality show.”
Earlier, she said of Mel, who made numerous TV appearances: “I think she wanted everyone to know who she was and to make an impact on the world somehow but didn’t know quite how.”
Mel, from Hull, died earlier this month age 58 of heart disease, days after being given the all-clear from a heart scare.
The celebrant said at the service: “She was like no other person you could ever meet. You could travel the whole world and you wouldn’t find another Mel.” He told how Mel worked as an engineer and welder before driving a taxi for 15 years.
Previously known as Les, she had gender reassignment surgery in 2011.
Alastair said: “All Mel wanted was to be accepted for the woman she always knew that she was throughout her life.
“The lottery win didn’t change Mel as a person – it just meant her quality of life improved. Mel was a terrible millionairess. Mel still loved a bargain.
“The world is certainly going to be a duller place without Mel around.”
Some of Mel’s four children attended her funeral, despite a rift within the family. Songs played included My Way CELEBRATION After Lotto win in 2017. Right, as Les. by Frank Sinatra, and a mix of her YouTube and Facebook performances.
Mum-of-five Rachel spoke to the Mirror on the eve of the funeral, and revealed Mel’s final words. Before she died, Mel told Rachel: “I need to go to my special place, because I feel like the life has been sucked out of me,” referring to her favourite tree near her home.
Rachel said of finding Mel slumped in the seat of her car: “I honestly thought she was mucking about. I was expecting her to open her eyes and say ‘boo’.”
She added: “Mel finally had the chance to do anything she wanted and it got ripped away from her. We were going to have a wild circus wedding.
“We were going to wear inflatable suits and have clowns, trapeze artists. She wanted to take us all on holiday as none of us had ever gone abroad.”
The couple met three years ago at a ghost hunt, and got engaged days before Mel’s Lotto win in 2017.
Rachel laughed: “I’d never met a weirdo like me. We would drive out in the middle of nowhere to see if we could spot UFOs or look at an old church.”