The ICCM Journal | Autumn 2020 | V88 No. 3
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Obituary: Kim Stopher It was with great sadness that I learned that Kim had lost his 18 month battle with cancer and I know that I speak for all his friends and colleagues at the ICCM when I send our sincere condolences to his wife Heather and his mother Juliette. Kim David Stopher was born on 11th June 1956 in Enfield and had a comfortable childhood and excelled at Latimer School which led to a job with the Ministry of Defence which involved procurement. Kim did well in his role but he realised that this was not where his interests lay. His real passion was for steam engineering in which he went on to be a recognised expert, a tutor and examiner for the Combustion Engineering Association with whom he was working up to two weeks before his death. I first met Kim soon after he was appointed as the UK Managing Director of IFZW, a German company looking to sell its range of cremators into the competitive British market. We quickly established a good relationship and we subsequently enjoyed many professional and social engagements together and we shared a passion for motorcars which we could discuss for hours! Kim took on his role with IFZW with great enthusiasm and quickly became one of the most recognisable characters at any bereavement industry conference or event and will be
remembered for his knowledge and willingness to share this. He was a regular contributor to conferences and indeed undertook a number of projects with the ICCM and also gave some presentations. Kim will be remembered for his immaculate appearance, always a neatly folded handkerchief in his jacket pocket and his enthusiasm for all that he did. IFZW went on to win a number of cremator installation contracts in the UK before he left that position and formed his own company Kim Stopher Associates which was very successful. Kim had a few passions; he was a very enthusiastic golfer from the age of eleven and won many competitions and trophies over the years. Kim was a committed member of the Ickwell Cricket Club Golf Society, a passionate and dedicated freemason and was master of his Lodge in 2014 and as mentioned a confirmed car enthusiast. Kim loved Mercedes cars and particularly his 6 litre S Class and more recently a car he had long coveted, a Bentley Brooklands. Kim we will miss your friendship and wise council. Alan José
Obituary: Ernie Turner Ernie Turner was born in East Ham, London on 12th February 1923, the youngest of four children. Ernie left school at fourteen as was common practice in those days unless your family was well off and did various jobs. A runner for a firm in the city of London, he worked for an electrician and then at an office job in the City of London Cemetery before being conscripted into the RAF during World War II.
Ernie went back to the cemetery office as a general assistant on 22nd April 1947 and went on to be one of the most influential people of his generation in the burial and cremation industry during a career that spanned over 40 years.
Ernie was in training as a pilot in bomber command before a fault in his eyesight was noticed by his superior officers, which sadly for Ernie at the time, quashed that ambition. Very reluctantly Ernie agreed to become a member of ground crew. Ernie many years later told his son Matthew that his eye fault saved his life as all the people he did his pilot training with died during the War.
Ernie married Betty at St. Mary’s church in Beckton in 1951 and worked diligently at his daily duties at the cemetery and at the same time studying for the diploma of the Institute of Burial and Cremation Administration (now the ICCM) obtaining his diploma with honours in 1960. A report to the Port of London Health and Social Services Committee held on 30th November 1960 advised that Mr E Turner as chief assistant of the City of London Cemetery had “passed the final examination of the IBCA with honours in two subjects and the highest aggregate marks among the candidates sitting the final examination” an achievement for which Ernie was rightly congratulated.
Ernie later began working on RADAR and was asked to continue in this field after the end of the war as it was something he excelled at. When finally Ernie was demobbed, he was standing in a bus queue outside Manor Park station one day in his demob suit, when a man turned around to him saying he remembered him. This man was in fact Mr Herbert, the superintendent and registrar of the City of London Cemetery who said that if he needed a job he could come and work back at the cemetery.
Ernie was appointed deputy superintendent and registrar in 1961 and on Mr Herbert’s retirement on 31st October 1964 to the top job.
