Family of Hastings woman set up Gofundme fundraising campaign for funeral costs

Tracey Goobie, 56, from Hastings, who is also known as Tracey Winchester, died on Saturday (October 31).

Her daughter Merlina has set up an online fundraising page on Gofundme, with the aim of raising £6,000 for the funeral costs.

She said: “Mum died of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). It was so unexpected and has come as a shock to all of us.

“My mum and dad were childhood sweethearts and got together at the age of 16, getting married in 1994.

“They were together for 40 years and married 26 years.

“My mum was a very funny person, she was very humorous and would make everyone laugh wherever she went.

“She would make friends and make people burst out with laughter. She was confident and always made people smile.

“She would always say things that needed be said and would never beat around the bush.

“Mum loved us all deeply and always told us she wanted to be cremated. We were all so close to our mum.

“We hoped we could get help within our community to give our mum the send-off she deserves.”

She said Tracey died in the early hours of Saturday after being taken to hospital.

Merlina added: “We thought our mum would be back after a few days but they called us within two hours saying we must come and say our goodbyes and our mum died in the early hours.

“We miss our mum so much and wish we could have one more minute with her. We didn’t expect this to happen so fast and didn’t have time to prepare the money for a funeral as we didn’t expect our mum too pass away like this.

“Due to Covid the funeral has been postponed until they can give us a date.

“We are broken that our mum is going to be sitting in the morgue till we find out a date. We hope we will have some success with the Gofundme page in the meantime but it’s distressing even to think my mum can’t be laid to rest.”

Tracey is survived by her son and five daughters.

Merlina’s fundraising page can be found by clicking here.

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