THE heartbroken son of former Ipswich Town star Vic Snell has spoken of his shock at learning of the 81-year-old's death last month.

Elvin King

THE heartbroken son of former Ipswich Town star Vic Snell has spoken of his shock at learning of the 81-year-old's death last month.

David Snell had been trying to trace his father for 38 years, and thought he was still living abroad until reading that the member of Sir Alf Ramsey's 1961/62 First Division championship-winning squad had been living in Middlesex prior to his death.

And because he has just returned from holiday he was unable to attend his father's funeral on August 28.

David said goodbye to his father in East London, South Africa in 1971 when he returned to England as a 19-year-old.

He then lost contact as his parents separated and along with his two sisters, Trudie, who lives in South Africa, and Debbie, who lives in Shotley, had been staging a world-wide search.

Ipswich-based David said: “I loved my dad, and I would have loved to have seen him just one more time.

“When my boss at Dyke Engineering David Bell showed me a copy of the Evening Star when I returned from holiday I came close to falling over.

“I had tried through the Red Cross and the passport office to trace my dad, and always considered he was still abroad either in South African, Zimbabwe or Australia where he talked of moving to.

“My wife Margaret is from South Africa and we go back for three weeks every two years always spending time looking into ways of finding out what happened to dad.

“To think that he has been living in Middlesex since 1992 is unbelievable and only adds to the shock.

“And not knowing in time that the funeral was on August 28 also adds to the pain.”

David emigrated with his parents and sisters to South Africa when he was 14, and after his parents' separation his mother Edith followed him back to Ipswich in 1973.

He did not know that his father had become part of another family with London-based Jamie Jackson getting in touch with the Evening Star as Vic's grandson to give funeral details.

The Star has passed on David's details to Jamie, and David added: “I hope he gets in touch. It would be wonderful to find out what happened to dad in all those missing years.”

According to Jamie, Vic was recommended a few coaching jobs in South Africa by Ramsey and he first coached in Port Elizabeth.

“He then went to Zimbabwe and spent 20 years as a PE teacher in Prince Edward School, one of the country's most prestigious schools,” said Jamie.

“He decided to return to England in 1992 and Ipswich Town was in his heart, and he looked upon the Tractor Boys as his own.”