While at least one suspect has been arrested in the killing of Seventh-day Adventist missionary Lance Gersbach, 700 people attended his funeral service in Australia recently.
While at least one suspect has been arrested in the killing of Seventh-day Adventist missionary Lance Gersbach, 700 people attended his funeral service in Australia recently.
Gersbach, age 60 and business manager at Atoifi Adventist Hospital on Malaita, Solomon Islands, at the time of his death, was buried at Palmdale Memorial Park in Ourimbah, New South Wales, May 26, following the service at Avondale College church in Cooranbong.
The killing has led to a review of security policy at the hospital, as well as a temporary cutback in services as traumatized staff members take a brief leave of absence. Barry Oliver, secretary of the Adventist Church in the region, said there is no consideration being given to closing the facility.
One suspect, described as an unemployed man in his 20s, is being held in Honiara, Solomon Islands, by authorities. Police are seeking a second suspect, also male.
Mrs Gersbach, in a prepared statement, expressed her thanks for the support the family had received, singling out the Australian High Commission in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, Qantas and Solomon Airlines, as well as church leaders.
“I would like to thank our friends and members of the community for your love, compassion and prayers,” she said. “Lance was a man who always put his best into everything he did. He had a depth of character that isn’t often found, and was committed to making a positive contribution to the hospital at Atoifi. I believed he achieved his goal.”
A boyhood friend and college classmate of Gersbach, Graeme Loftus, is now minister of the Gersbach’s home church in Charlestown, and presented the homily during the funeral service. Loftus said he knew Gersbach as “a quiet, almost shy person,” but “behind the scenes was incredibly helpful. . . . He had a thorough work ethic,” he said.
Gersbach, an accountant, left Australia for Malaita with his family Feb. 11 this year. He previously served as business manager at the former Sopas Adventist Hospital in Papua New Guinea between 1991 and 1993, and then as director of Administrative Services at the former Auckland Adventist Hospital until 1994.
