• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Man bursts into tears after hearing voicemail from wife who's been dead for 14 years

Home> News> UK News

Published 20:46 17 Nov 2023 GMT

Man bursts into tears after hearing voicemail from wife who's been dead for 14 years

Stan Beaton had kept the voicemail, but maintenance work caused it to be deleted

Kit Roberts

Kit Roberts

There are many keepsakes that we can have after losing a loved one, and the modern world has left us with the opportunity for a new kind.

Losing a loved one is something that can't be fully understood until you have experienced it for yourself, and over time memories of a person may not fade, but the picture is not so clear.

After losing his wife Ruby in 2003, Stan Beaton had preserved one thing which would remind him of her.

This was a recording of her voice on an answering machine, something which might seem entirely mundane, but which suddenly becomes a precious part of a lost loved one captured.

Advert

Stan was devastated to lose the message.
BBC

That is, until maintenance work being carried out on the phone line by Virgin Media led to the message being deleted, meaning Stan could no longer be reminded of his wife's voice.

Fortunately, a team from Virgin Media was able to hunt down the message and restore it for Stan.

For the first time in 14 years, he was able to once again hear his late wife's voice.

He told BBC Radio Leeds: "They've made this old age pensioner extremely happy. It's just a wonderful, wonderful sound that I thought was lost forever. I'm staggered at the lengths they have gone to."

Advert

Stan told how he had always stuck with Virgin before, because changing companies would have meant the message would have been lost.

He said: "I've always resisted changing companies because whenever I mentioned that my wife's voice was our voicemail message and would it be retained and each company said no, so that's why I never changed."

But then, the message was lost.

Stan broke down in tears when he heard the message again.
BBC

"Sadly it disappeared," said Stan.

Advert

"I was absolutely devastated by it, but also extremely angry.

"In the early days [I listened to it] quite often. Basically it came to the point when if I felt low then I would listen to it.

"In December I learned that it had disappeared. I just could not tell people how it affected me at that time. It really did devastate me."

Luckily, the message was still hanging around deep within the company's archives somewhere, and they were able to retrieve it and restore it to a delighted Stan.

Losing a loved one can mean that we sometimes have a faded idea of that person's voice, or their movements, or mannerisms.

Advert

A recording of someone doing something as mundane as asking people to leave a message is a precious thing, and we're so glad Stan got to experience that again.

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: UK News, Good News, BBC, Sex and Relationships, Technology

Kit Roberts
Kit Roberts

Kit joined LADbible Group in 2023 as a community journalist. They previously worked for StokeonTrentLive, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Star.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
5 hours ago
  • 3 hours ago

    Jurors reach partial verdict in Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex-trafficking trial

    The jury reached a partial verdict after more than 12 hours of deliberations, following weeks of disturbing testimony.

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    Archaeologists make 90 metre long Ancient Roman discovery buried on the ocean floor

    Divers excavated something in Italy that could reveal Roman-era secrets

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    'Worst shark attack ever' saw desperate crew feed dead to sharks as they circled in bloodbath

    If you've seen Jaws, then you'll know about this

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    'Infuriated' swingers speak out on the impact Diddy's 'freak-off' parties had on community

    Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyers caused an outcry in the swinging community

    News
  • 33-year-old virgin who's never been on a date explains why she's chosen to live in 'unique situation'
  • Man left in tears as he recalls shocking discovery in 20-year romance during First Dates return
  • Partner of man feared brain dead after food poisoning 'from £3 supermarket sandwich' issues urgent warning
  • 63-year-old grandmother who married man 37 years younger than her announces huge baby news