The body of Léon Tefau, who died in early October in New York during the Tavini Huira’atira delegation’s trip to the United Nations, has returned to the homeland on Friday after a lengthy procedure with American authorities. Before his burial on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Saint-Hilaire Cemetery, the deceased will be laid out for viewing on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Fare Amuiraa Saint-Joseph in Faa’a. The church bearing the same name will host a final Mass in his honor on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
This Saturday, the 17th, from 5:30 p.m., Léon Tefau’s body will be laid out for viewing at Fare Amuiraa Saint-Joseph in Faa’a. The Tavini Huira’atira invites those gathered with his family and loved ones to “pay a final tribute and honor his memory” during a vigil at 6:30 p.m. in Saint-Joseph Church. It is in this same church that the last Mass in his honor will take place on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., followed by the removal of the body. The burial will take place at 2:00 p.m. at the communal Saint-Hilaire Cemetery.
The weekend of mourning had actually begun Friday evening, when an initial intimate vigil took place at the family home. It took more than two weeks for the family and friends of Léon Tefau to repatriate his body. After the death of a member of the Tavini Huira’atira’s United Nations delegation, in the night of October 3 to 4, in a New York hotel, it was necessary to untangle a complex procedure with the American authorities, airlines, and insurers.
The body of the loyal treasurer of the independence movement finally returned Friday evening to the homeland, as tributes poured in on social media and within Polynesian institutions. As a liaison officer to Anthony Géros, president of the Assembly, he had also led Vini and subsidiaries of OPT, and served as secretary-general of AS Tefana. The association invites those who wish to come dressed in yellow and green, the club’s colors, to “accompany him one last time with the colors he loved so much” as the procession passes by the Louis Gavinet Stadium at noon on Sunday.
The matches of the women’s teams were also postponed to “allow the Tefana family to come together to pay him a final tribute.”
