Lonely OAP puts sign up in window looking for mates after his wife died

A lonely OAP has put up a poster in his window asking for friends after his wife died leaving him feeling isolated.

Tony Williams, 75, can go for days without speaking to anyone after his wife Jo, also 75, passed away in May this year.

The retired physicist has no children and says that he often sits at home hoping that the phone will ring, but “it never does”.

Tony said he feels “cursed” by loneliness.

As the scientist has no family nearby, he put two adverts in the local paper for £60 each looking for a pal to chat to, but didn’t get any replies.

Hoping to find a mate to listen to music with, or sit in the garden with him, he made business cards and handed them out on his walks and trips to the supermarket.

Tony handed out 23 cards but never got a call back.

Now, the sociable OAP has put a poster up in his window asking for friends.

He said:

“It’s my last resort. I’ve tried everything to make friends, but it feels like nobody wants to talk to me.

“Not very many people pass my house, but I was hoping it would spread around the community, and someone might reach out.

“Jo was my best friend and we had a lovely life, but now I’m all by myself.

“My wonderful wife has just died, and I have nobody.”

The couple couldn’t have children and lived in Kempley, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, for 25 years.

Tony said:

“We first met one night in a bar, and we got on so well.

“It was just incredible. It was like I’d known her all my life. She was just so lovely.

“Our relationship was always so natural. We had no secrets and we could be totally open with each other – we really were soul mates."

He added:

"Back in Kempley, we both used to get in every evening from work and cook together – with me doing one job and her another - then we’d put it together at the end.”

“Sometimes we’d spend hours cooking, laughing and listening to music together – it was the highlight of our day.

Orchard

“We also had a huge, beautiful garden with an orchard.

“In the summer months, I’d do the gardening and Jo would come and sit outside with me. Everything was just perfect.”

The couple moved to Alton, East Hampshire to be closer to Jo’s sister Beryl, 73.

Unfortunately, Jo fell ill with pancreatic cancer shortly after they moved and died just nine days after she was diagnosed.

She passed away with Tony by her side at home and he says he’s lived in silence ever since.