A JERSEY family has launched a fundraising campaign to repatriate the body of their “kind” father back from The Gambia, where he had retired to.
Roy White, who was born and raised in the Island, recently died while in the West African country.
The family have been told it will cost around £10,000 to return Mr White’s body to the UK with a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost.
The fundraiser has already raised over £4,000.
Mr White’s daughter Laura said: “My father was born and raised in Jersey.
“He grew up at Nicky [Nicholson] Park in Grands Vaux, and played for the Island [football] team in his early twenties as a striker.”
Mr White worked for the States of Jersey for over 25 years, before retiring in 2019.
He then decided to spend some time in the sunnier climes of The Gambia.
“He knew that both his children were young, and thought he would travel before his children decided to give him grandchildren,” explained his daughter.
“He made the decision a couple of months ago that it was time to come home, and was due to be moving back [to Jersey] on a permanent basis in March next year.
“When we would chat, he would tell me how excited he was to see the changing seasons again.”
But Mr White sadly passed away before he could make the move back to Jersey.
Ms White explained that, as cremation is illegal in The Gambia, the family have decided to repatriate Roy’s body back to Jersey to be able to hold a service at the Island’s crematorium.
This will be followed by a wake at the Wellington Pub to celebrate his life.
She said: “My father was a kind man. He would do his upmost to ensure that his family and friends were happy.
“You couldn’t walk through town without him saying ‘hello’ to every other person who passed, explaining how he knew them.”
She added: “Our friends and family have been very supportive, donating what they can to help us, and sharing the GoFundMe link with their friends and family.
“We feel so blessed to have o many amazing people in our lives willing to help us.”
The fundraiser is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/9kjs6-roy-white
