Milkman John Hay reckons his ex-wife is the cream of the crop — after she made him a millionaire when she scooped the Lotto jackpot.
Doreen Hay was married to John for 12 years until they divorced in 1987 after "growing apart".
But they stayed best of friends, meeting up every week for Sunday lunch.
So when Doreen, 70, and their son John Jr., 38, scooped £7.5 million in the UK's Lotto game, she called her ex immediately.
John, 59, said: "When she rang after the win I was thrilled for her. It never crossed my mind she'd give any to me.
"It is typical of Doreen's generosity that she's thought of everyone else before herself.
"She has been such a great friend. We've got on better than we did when we were married. I have never needed anyone else when I have her as a friend."
John, who earns £20,000 a year, is getting half a million from Doreen and the same amount from his winner son.
He has been out on his round as usual but admitted he will soon be doing his last.
He said: "I've been on my milk round now for 30 years and I've enjoyed it.
"My thoughts were turning to retirement but I didn't think I'd be able to do it for quite some time.
"Doreen's changed all that and I really don't know how to thank her."
The pair met almost 40 years ago when they worked at a restaurant together.
He said: "I was over the moon when she agreed to go out with me but we grew apart as man and wife. Still there's no one I'd rather spend my time with than Doreen."
The mum-of-two, of Thornaby, Teesside, still lives in the same area as her ex.
She said: "I see him every week for Sunday lunch. He does a lovely dinner.
"If it is nice we go away for days. We have such a good relationship."
Doreen is a Liverpool fan, and she may treat herself to her first visit to Anfield.
But despite her love of day trips, John Jr., of nearby Billingham, said: "We won't be getting her on a plane anywhere soon. She does not do holidays abroad."
In contrast, he plans to travel the world with partner Susan and three stepchildren Daniel, 22, Joseph, 11, and Aimee, nine.
Generous Doreen is giving away a total of £1.5 million between John, her three grandchildren, seven surviving siblings and the charities Help for Heroes, WaterAid, Save The Children and Breakthrough Breast Cancer, as well as a local hospice.
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Thanks to myturn for the tip.
Very impressive and generous. Kudos to all of them for setting an example of being humble.
Great Stuff!!! That's what its all about right there!!!
That my friends is a TRUE FRIEND... Good story.
This goes to show that money merely enhances who you are already, on the inside. Congrats to all, you are showing a very good example. Forgiveness is a very beautiful thing if you can handle it.
I have a feeling the money will not last. I do hope they have got independent professional financial advice. It is a lot of money, but if you don't spend and or invest it wisely, it can be badly depleted of disappear altogether.
Good luck to them and hope they invest most of it for the future.
She was 30 & he was 19 when they met. 40 years ago such a pairing was rare. Nowadays we have cougars and cubs and everything you can think of. Anyways It's good they remained friends especially for him. I wonder if he'll be taxed heavily for this gift.
Very classy.
What a contrast to the lottery winner who dumped her husband for the Audi salesman.
Great story. Finally a nice person wins! LOL
Is that beer n water side by side? What gives?
Congratulations
AMEN!!!! so true, so true!
She is going straight to heaven!
It's for the Tea and Biscuits.
What a cute story
Oh cool.
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!
I love hearing stories like this.
It appears the ex-wife still wears her wedding ring. The friendship they now have is indeed stronger than what they experienced during their marriage and it's quite refreshing to see such a random act of kindness.
The 7.5 million pound jackpot is comparable to the cash value of a PB/MM $40 million jackpot as all three would net a tad over $12 million.
With a sensible plan, this windfall should take care of her and her son for pretty much the rest of their lives.
Doreen, you sound like a real nice lady, Congrats.
She looks like she is a lot of fun. She will enjoy every dollar and share an equal dollar as well.
How come none of my ex-wives can ever be like that?
They're all foaming-at-the-mouth and trying to kill me all the time.
""I have a feeling the money will not last. I do hope they have got independent professional financial advice. It is a lot of money, but if you don't spend and or invest it wisely, it can be badly depleted of disappear altogether""
What on earth are you talking about?????? You mean to tell me that you read a such a rare and beautiful lottery story and this is the point you wish to make? This was what you got from the story?? Unbelievable!!!!! Boooooo!!!!
Dang Ridge. Just what did you do to those wimmins to make them hate you so much?
It was the strangest thing.
I'd stay out all night and come home the next day and they'd be mad at me.
So to give them a little space and time to cool off, I'd stay out another night.
I'd come home the next day and they were still mad at me.
So I'd stay out again to give them time to cool off.
I'd come home the next day and they were still mad.
It got to the point that I'd stay out the whole dadgum week so they could calm down and when I came home they were STILL mad at me!
Ain't no man in the world can get along with crazy wimmins like that!
It's nice they remained friends all these years and that she shared.
Feel good lottery stories are rare. Congrats to them.
This is a lesson for pedro the silly new jersey powerball winner treating people nice and fair and happy openly is good and better than hiding millions in dominican republic and acting dumb like you don't know where you hide it . Learn here amigo. Lol
You maybe right it won't last but i can bet you it will outlast thoes that won over $300,000,000 like silly Pedro
Nice!
Im making my ex a millionaire too! It's just not from the lottery.
Agree
Hang In There Ridge
That is truely hard to understand Ridge
Especially after you had so much patience with them
By staying away all them times till they cooled down
Glad this story didn't turn out how I imagined it from the title... that the man sued or some crazy law said he was owed half.
Very generous woman and congratuations to all of them!
I agree Ridge. My ex-wife told me she doesn't give a dam about me so I doubt if she would give me a million dollars if she hit the jackpot.
In fact my relationships usually start out well with "Hi baby how you doing?"
Then end up with "will the defendant please rise".
What great story. Cant say i feel the same about my ex-husband
Holy crap! Is that you MKV? Your post and signature is something my ex-wife would say. Anybody can put where they are from.
What a sweet story. One you don't see often.
Looks like it pay$ to be nice !
The operative phrase in this story is "they remained best of friends. I would say quality of friendship is more important than legal relationship status. This is only newsworthy because most formerly married couples DO NOT remain best friends or even friends for that matter.
I seriously feel that my lucky day is coming and I just got divorced about a month ago. Although I would be inclined to do a small nice gesture for my ex, she could not expect anything large like this since she does not support playing the lottery. My logical opinion is that if you cannot support playing the lottery, then you cannot benefit from any of the winnings.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, golfmeister.
And most of mine never even got scorned at all.
I was just enhancing the culture of Tennessee wimmins by teaching them the Texas Two-Step.
And that's not an easy thing to do neither.
Sometimes it takes all night.
Now thats a true winner. At least it wasn't wasted on a bicycle.
Congratulations to Doreen and John Jr. Hay on your tidy £7.5 million UK jackpot win! It is very thoughtful of each of you to give John Sr. £1 million combined!
John Sr., please don't squander this money gift from your family. This £1 million is certainly not enough to retire BEFORE age 66, or even take your current young family on a long, expensive trip! I hope your current family can talk you into, instead, taking merely a 5-day mid-priced family vacation within your own continent and investing the rest to receive at least Net 4% annual interest from an no-risk investment for the following 30 years.
Hahaha...
You're the man Ridge.
Buying a bicycle is a lot more reasonable than purchasing a private jet.