THE death took place last Thursday of one of Tavistock?s best known residents, Roy Minhinnick, aged 89.

In this tribute, Robin Fenner, Roy?s neighbour for 28 years, writes of a man whose passing heralds the end of many chapters in the life of Tavistock.

Roy Minhinnick was born in 1914,and was educated at the old Tavistock Grammar School. He was their first team goalkeeper for many years which began a lifetime?s interest in association football. As a life member of my club, Tavistock AFC, until midway through last season he never missed an entire home game.

In 1940 he married Gladys Wilton, whom Roy so often described, as a ?raving beauty?. She became Tavistock carnival queen in the 1950s. During the second world war, Roy served in the Royal Corps of Signals which saw him posted to Burma to serve in the sweat and toil of a foreign clime, in what has been referred to as the ?Forgotten Army?, the 14th Army which fought the Japanese.

In the past 30 years, Roy has been chairman of Tavistock Royal British Legion and chairman of Tavistock OAPs. He was a freemason, a member of Tavistock?s historic Bedford Lodge and just recently had the pleasure of seeing a nephew initiated at his behest.

In 1996 he was honoured with the title of Honoured Burgess of Tavistock, one of a handful of people to have received the distinction and reward which was my initiative as mayor. His years of service to his town and its people, to his county and his country has not gone unnoticed, as a soldier he has served his country.

As a steward and worshipper at St Eustachius he had served his God and his fellow man.

The funeral in celebration of Roy?s life takes place on Friday at 2pm at St Eustachius Church along with his family and his friends and, importantly for him, his surviving colleagues from the Burma Star Association, including one of his commanding officers who is an 88-year-old standard bearer.

An invitation is forwarded to those whose lives Roy has touched to join us at the church to celebrate what has been a remarkable life solely spent in the town of Tavistock and the Far East theatre of war. Following the service Roy will be laid to rest alongside ?My beloved Gladys?. His final request is the addition of the word ?Reunited? on the memorial