Community provides headstone and resting place for well-known Kentville resident Eva Turple

Eva Turple, a Kentville resident and well-known town character who passed away in February has a permanent marker in a local cemetery thanks to donations and support from the community.

John Andrew, the pastor with the group Valley Connect Outreach, which operates a community soup kitchen and street ministry, said a local company provided the headstone for a good price, and users of the soup kitchen and community members pitched in to help cover the cost. The plot was donated.

“The people who use the soup kitchen don’t have tons of money, but whenever there is a cause they contribute.”

He said a headstone may seem like a small matter for some people, but having one for Turple was important.

“For me it’s just a matter of dignity,” Andrew said. “She deserves to have a stone. We’ve come too far as a society and community to allow someone, just because they don’t have means, to fade off.”

He said to him, having a marker would be “unacceptable for someone just because they didn’t have a high station in life.”

Turple had limited financial means, but was well-regarded in the town. Andrew said that helped prompt people to contribute.

“She was a beautiful soul and very caring, whether it what was going on at the fire hall or down at the Needs stores, that was her thing,” Andrew said. “She had her finger on the pulse… she was a person you saw every day, she was always there. (The headstone) shows her life meant something, and this is a way of acknowledging that.”

While Turple’s funeral was held in February, her interment service is being planned for some time in September.