MOURNERS will bid farewell tomorrow to a former funeral director who died following a motorcycle accident in Thailand.
Ian Wright, 45, suffered serious head injuries in an accident in October and underwent major surgery before he was stable enough to fly home in December.
But his condition worsened and Mr Wright, of Hawarden Way, Mancot, died at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan on January 5.
Mr Wright is survived by his Ukranian wife Julia, brother Nigel and father Gerald, of Queensferry-based Gerald Wright Funeral Directors.
Gerald Wright told the Leader: “Ian was always off travelling. Sometimes I wouldn’t hear from him for weeks on end.
“Then one day I had a call from the Home Office who said Ian had been involved in a serious accident involving a car. It was a big shock.
“In the end he had to have two or three operations before he was stable enough to come home, but then he went downhill very quickly.
“I’ve arranged a lot of funerals in my career but this one will be very difficult.”
Mr Wright Jnr was educated at Sandycroft Primary School and later Hawarden High School before joining the family business, where he worked for more than a decade as a funeral director and embalmer.
Later he worked as a bus driver for Arriva and eventually GHA, based out of Nantwich. He had visited Thailand a number of times as well as Australia.
Mr Wright said his son had been in Thailand for about six months before tragedy struck.
He said: “Ian was very easy-going and full of life, just a nice lad.
“He loved travelling and sunbathing and just taking it easy. He was very close to his family and especially his best friend, Bridget Smailes.
“He will be very sadly missed.”
An inquest into Mr Wright’s death has been opened and adjourned by North Wales East and Central coroner John Gittins.
A post-mortem examination gave his provisional cause of death as bronchopneumonia as a result of a brain injury.
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are aware of the death of a British national in the UK following an accident in Thailand.
“We provided consular assistance to him and his family during his hospitalisation.”
Mr Wright’s funeral will take place at St Deiniol’s Church in Hawarden at 11.30am tomorrow, followed by a cremation at Blacon Crematorium in Chester.
His father has chosen to honour his rock enthusiast son by playing Is this Love? by Whitesnake and Every Rose Has Its Thorn.
Donations will be made to the Intensive Therapy Unit at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.