| abstract | - Valerie Barlow (née Tatlock) was Ken Barlow's first wife and mother of Peter and Susan. Valerie moved to Coronation Street in 1961 to live with her uncle Albert Tatlock when her parents moved to Glasgow. It was then that she started dating Ken and, despite their different educational backgrounds and outlooks on life, they fell in love and got married in 1962. Peter and Susan were born three years later. Valerie was a trained hairdresser and before the twins were born, she ran a salon in No.9's front room. She gave up work to be a full-time mother and housewife, but once the twins were a little older, took jobs at the Corner Shop and Alan Howard's salon, where she was head hairdresser. Her marriage to Ken was mostly close and loving, but whenever Ken was caught up in his intellectual interests, he would often ignore Val and the children. In 1971, the Barlows decided to emigrate to Jamaica as Ken had accepted a teaching job there. On the night before they left, Valerie died from an electric shock when using a faulty electrical outlet in her home.
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