I'm so sorry that you and Valerie were not allowed to be together in those final hours. The law is deeply wrong about this situation. She looked so very pretty on your wedding day, and to read of your 50 years of happiness was a real joy. How lovely for her to have all those beautiful memories in her heart and mind, right to the very end.
It sounds as if you've since found happiness again, and I'm really pleased for you. I think, in a way, it takes even more courage to walk away, as you had to, than to stay, but no person should ever be forced to make such a choice in the first place..