Tributes after Kilmarnock man's body found

Jul 25 2008 by Clair Fullarton, Kilmarnock Standard

THE family of pensioner Andrew ‘Gunny’ Hunter have issued a heartfelt thank-you to everyone who supported them during the harrowing days leading up the discovery of his body.

The family – Gunny’s widow Jenny, daughters Janet and Margaret and son Andrew – say they’ve been overwhelmed by the support shown to them since Gunny went missing while out on a Sunday afternoon stroll.

Family friends and neighbours have been helping in the search for the 84-year-old who was last seen at Annanhill Golf Course on Sunday, July 13.

And it was two of those pals who found the keen walker’s body just yards from where he was last spotted, in undergrowth near the old Annandale brickworks on Saturday morning.

Gunny’s widow Jenny said: “The help we’ve received over the past week has been tremendous. My husband was well known by a lot of people in Crosshouse, Springside and in Kilmarnock.

“He had played football and was a bowler, so a lot of people knew him well.”

The family described how friends and neighbours rallied round and joined them searching the surrounding fields and lanes looking for Gunny, who suffered from Parkinson’s, but was still very much ‘with it’.

Daughter Margaret said: “Dad didn’t have dementia, he was a bit forgetful, but he knew exactly what was going on.

“We wouldn’t have let him out if he wasn’t fit enough. That’s why this whole thing has been such a mystery.”

Daughter Janet added: “The whole community has really been behind us during this last week. People have been helping with the search every day since dad went missing. The support for the whole family has been lovely.

“The spot where he was found is really out of the way and we had been near it ourselves earlier in the week, but we didn’t think he would have made it in there as there was a fence.”

It was only because eagle-eyed family friends Matt Milligan and Colin Larimour spotted flattened grass forming a path that Gunny was found when he was.

Mrs Hunter who had been married to Gunny for 59 years, added: “They were about to turn back, but decided to carry on when they saw the grass had been disturbed and they found him next to an old building.

“It does give us great comfort that he was out doing what he enjoyed most, he loved being out and about walking in the fresh air.”

Gunny’s funeral will take place tomorrow (Friday) at Crosshouse Parish Church at 2pm, and Holmsford crematorium, Dreghorn, at 3pm.