Widower surprises couple by picking up their tab

A Canadian man who lost his wife recently was dining alone in a restaurant when he picked the tab for a couple who were sitting nearby this past week. His act of generosity went viral which was unexpected for him.

 Courtesy of Lee Ballantyne / Lee and Carol Ballantyne.             

But somebody clicked a pic of the explanatory note of his reason for paying the bill and when the photo got posted to Reddit, it spread rapidly, and lots of people were moved the world over.

On December 30^th, Lee Ballantyne, 65, of Barrie, Ontario lost his wife Carol. When he saw a couple sitting nearby eating at Cicco’s restaurant, the thought of his late wife came to his mind, which encouraged him to the deed of kindness.

“I just wanted to write what I felt at the time so I scrawled it on a napkin,” Ballantyne told TODAY.com.

"You don’t know me, but my beautiful wife of 43 years died last week," read his handwritten note. "Tonight I dined alone for the first time. You remind me of us many years ago. Please allow me to buy your dinner. It will put a smile on Carol’s face and make me happy… for now."

The waitress was handed over the note by Ballantyne and he asked her to transfer the bill of the couple to his credit card. The waitress then requested the owner of Cicco’s Lindsay Weiss to tell the surprising gesture to the couple.

Weiss said the response was moving for everybody. “They [the couple] were beyond touched and grateful. I cried. The waitress and chef cried. It was one of the kindest gestures I’ve ever witnessed,” Weiss told TODAY.com.

The man gave a phone call to Ballantyne that evening which surprised him. He thanked him for paying their bill and offered their condolences and told him that they want to take Ballantyne to dinner sometime in future.

Many of the staff members of Cicco’s chose social media to post this note and the news spread of this good deed. After sometime, the note went viral as millions of people were enthused by Ballantyne’s act.  

“It was just a simple gesture and it seemed like an ideal time to do that. I guess I had a selfish motive, I wanted to make myself feel good. And it did for a while. It still does,” Ballantyne said.

Carol, 62 when she passed away, was survived by her husband and three sons and five grandchildren. They all were astonished by the speed of the spread of Lee’s note online, where it has been viewed over 800,000 times, resulting in the news reports worldwide.

Ballantyne expressed his gratefulness for the chance to share Carol’s memory with the world.

“My wife’s strength and joy of life is now known to millions of people just because of that gesture so I accomplished something there. I’m glad people got to know a little about Carol,“ Ballantyne said. 

Source: Today