for burial accompanied by his family after a memorial service that drew large crowds, BosNewsLife learned, Wednesday May 21.
According to the Adventist News Network (ANN) "thousands" attended the service for 60-year old Lance Gersbach at the Kukum Seventh-day Adventist Church in Solomon Islands’ capital Honiara.
Soon after, uniformed Pathfinder scouts reportedly escorted his remains to the cargo hold of the Solomon Airlines flight to Australia.
Fighting back tears, his widow Jean Gersbach was seen waving to well-wishers late Tuesday May 20, as she made her way to the commercial airliner carrying the body of her murdered husband accompanied by their young daughters, Louise (11) and Anita (8).
They were later met by Jean Gersbach’s father as well as friends and members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church after landing in Sydney.
PAINFUL FLIGHT
As they embarked on their painful flight to Australia, Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Sir Allan Kemakeza, sent a letter to his Australian counterpart expressing his regret over the murder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church missionary worker.
"The Government and people of the Solomon Islands are horrified and outraged at the barbaric killing of the late Mr. Gersbach on Sunday," news media quoted him as writing in the letter.
And in a letter to Jean Gersbach, Governor-General, Sir John Ini Lapli reportedly wrote the country was shocked by the senseless and vicious crime against an "innocent servant of God".
TRIBAL DISCONTENT
While nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, police investigators have linked the attack to discontent within one of the land-owning tribes in the Atoifi area over lease arrangements set up by the Seventh Day Adventist Church for its hospital.
"The murder was not against him, the atrocity was not against him," Australian media quoted the missionary’ s brother-in-law, Ray Southon, as saying.
Gersbach moved with his family to Atoifi, a remote settlement on Malaita with about 3,000 Seventh Day Adventists, to build a new mission shop at the 80-bed Aitofi Adventist Hospital and provide basic necessities for life in villages in the volatile region.
"PRETTY TORMENTED"
Despite the murder, several staff members continue with his work at the hospital and refused to leave, ANN and other media said. Meanwhile Gersbach’s daughters Louise and Anita were said to be "pretty tormented" by the loss of their father.
"They are responsible girls but they are finding it very difficult. They are just coming to terms with the fact that they have lost their dad. They have barely had time to grieve," Sauthon told reporters.
"Lance loved his family to bits," ANN quoted Southon as saying. "He just loved people. He was community-minded, and we will remember his commitment to serving those who were not as fortunate as he was."
"EVIL KILLING"
Alfred Sasako, member of parliament for East Kwaio on Malaita, described the death of Gersbach as an "evil killing" and an "attack on the very heart of the people of East Kwaio," ANN reported.
"I wish to convey our sympathies and condolences to Lance’s wife and children," he said. "Their loss is our loss; their pain, our pain."
This was the second time a Seventh Day Adventist Church worker has been beheaded in the Solomon Islands in less than a year. Last September, a deacon in his early 40s, Martin Reuben, was found by his wife decapitated on a beach, The New Zealand Herald newspaper said.
Details of Gersbach’s funeral arrangements were not immediately clear.
