The funeral of Kent flooring retailer Gary Turk took place on 5 January. He was 67.
Turk died on 13 December after a cardiac arrest three days earlier at Tenterden Golf Club’s annual Christmas dinner.
He had been in the flooring industry for more than 40 years, launching Ashford retailer Turk’s Flooring with his sons Lee and Jason in 2016.
‘Dad was a big golfer and every year about 30 people get together and have a Christmas do at the club. He played during the afternoon, and by all accounts quite well, then everyone had a meal and did some speeches. But after he did his, he slumped down onto the table and suffered a cardiac arrest. Paramedics worked on him for a long time and managed to get his heart beating while getting him to hospital,’ says Lee.
‘They put a stent in after seeing some blockages, and were talking about putting in more stents afterwards, but then a consultant came in and said he’d got severe brain damage so that wasn’t possible. After a couple of days in intensive care it was clear he wasn’t going to wake up and so the decision was made to turn off the ventilator machine.’
Before setting up Turk’s Flooring, Turk spent more than three decades at Melvin Head Carpets.
‘I also worked at Melvin Head and actually planned to work on my own when I left, but that’s when dad stopped me and said the three of us should do something together. Since then, we’ve both been doing six days a week and the plan was for dad to cut that by a day or so,’ says Lee.
‘He loved his job and didn’t want to slow down. I do the measuring and then the rest of us do some fitting, but dad would always answer the phone, respond to emails and be the one people met in the shop. He was such a people person, always kind, chatty and did something for you if you needed. Coming in early and opening up was always his thing and it made him proud working alongside his two sons, grandson Bradley and my wife Marie. When he wasn’t in the shop or on the golf course he’d be fishing with Bradley and the family.’
Turk is survived by Janice, who he was married to for 46 years, children Lee, Jason Mikala, and Emma and 11 grandchildren.
