Funeral fund for Spalding mum killed in road crash
A Spalding lettings agency has started crowdfunding to raise £3,000 to pay for the funeral of a mum killed in a road crash.
Ilze Dobele (46), of New Road, Spalding, was one of two backseat passengers who died in the tragedy at 7.15am on Friday, October 13, when a car plunged into a water-filled ditch on Puddock Road, Ramsey Forty Foot, Cambs.
Ilze and her partner Arturs Kotlers were renting their home through Premier Property Management (Lincolnshire) Ltd and staff at the Swan Street business have launched a JustGiving crowdfunding page to pay for funeral expenses, which will involve cremation here and repatriating Ilze’s ashes to Latvia.
Ilze’s daughters Ieva and Marta live in Latvia with their grandma, Ilze’s mum, who paid their airfare to Britain.
Judy Flynn, from the lettings agency, said the daughters, aged 20 and 22, are tying up loose ends, including closing down bank accounts with little or nothing in them.
She said there is no money in the family to pay for a funeral and money was always tight with Ilze and Arturs, as they were agency workers and had weeks when they were laid off.
Judy said: “We thought starting the fundraising page was the least we could do.”
She said Arturs is absolutely devastated by his partner’s death but will remain in Spalding because there’s nothing for him to go home to.
Judy said Arturs’s landlord has been extremely supportive, reducing his rent to that for a single person so he can afford to keep his home, and offering accommodation to Ilze’s daughters – but they want to stay at their parents’ house while they are here.
The daughters hope to take their mum’s ashes with them when they return home with her belongings.
Judy told us: “They just said that their mother was someone to look up to and very brave. She came over here to try to earn money and they thought the world of her.”
Ilze was being driven home from work when the accident happened. Ingrida Dudeniene (47), of Spring Gardens, Spalding, was also killed. A man is in custody charged with two counts of causing death by careless driving.
• To donate please visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ilze?utm_id=107&utm_term=pDzxyzym3
You can also donate direct at Premier Property Management, which has a collecting tin for the funeral fund.