Well-loved local teacher Jim Turner passed away on March 21, 2012, after a long battle with cancer.
“I worked with Jim at Nakusp Elementary when I first moved here 21 years ago. He was a lovely man,” said child literacy coordinator Rhonda Palmer, “I worked part time in his classroom as an SEA and remember how we used to joke and tease each other. The kids loved him and often would say that he was their favorite teacher.”
He and his wife Jean were active in the community and had lots of friends here, Palmer said.
One family friend Hank Scown remembered Jim fondly, and recalled he had a lot of passions: hockey, new trucks, new cars, new boats, fishing and mushroom picking. But family was always first.
Jim moved to Nakusp as a newlywed with Jean in 1968 to teach at the elementary school. The birth of his kids Doug and Carolyn enriched his life even more, and their kids made Jim a rich man indeed.
The kids he taught at school remember a strict but fun teacher. When Team Canada played Russia for gold in 1972, Jim took his grade seven Socials class to the library to watch the game, because it was, he said, a historically important event.
Jim had to leave his post as principal due to a fall in 1999 when he broke his hip. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly thereafter, and had been battling the disease since then. He and Jean moved to Kelowna to be nearer the hospital, but Jim always loved Nakusp, said Scown.
Jim Turner passed away in the early evening of March 21. Last week his remains were brought back to the home he loved, and honoured by the people who loved him right back here in Nakusp.