NOT many people live in a building named after them.
Vincentian Father Keith Turnbull has that privilege – the Southport Ozcare facility was named in his honour in recognition for 60 years of service to the poor and underprivileged across Australia.
Fr Turnbull, 84, is celebrating six decades of priesthood today (November 18) in Southport parish – a fitting place for the celebration as he served there as pastor for more than a decade, built churches and help the Gold Coast parish grow into the thriving enterprise it is today.
“I became chairman of Ozcare and at one board meeting they surprised me and said they were going to call that building after me,” Fr Turnbull said.
“I said ‘fair go, I’m not even dead yet’.
“Normally a person has to move on before that happens.”
The naming honoured Fr Turnbull’s life of dedication, sacrifice and faith as a priest – a vocation that nearly didn’t happen at all.
Fr Turnbull, who was born in Albury, Victoria, said support for his vocation wasn’t strong on the home front.
“It was quite the opposite,” he said.
“My father was a non-Catholic and I never got any encouragement.
“I had no high-blown motives, I just felt that’s where I should be.”
Fr Turnbull was an only child and that created more dramas.
“My parents unfortunately separated in my early years and that in itself was a problem,” he said.
“I didn’t like leaving my mother, but I just felt that I had to.
“They had nothing against the Church, but there was no real encouragement from my mother.
“I think she was a little disappointed.
“Of course I’m lucky to be a priest, because in my day to go to the seminary you had to be accepted by the bishop.
“And I applied to five bishops and they didn’t want me.
“It was because of the family background. My parents were married outside the Church, my mother’s father was a non-Catholic, they were separated and, if you like, I had every black mark they could put against you.
“Anyway an old priest in Sydney saved and encouraged me and gave me guidelines and the Vincentian Fathers were game enough to take me on.”
The Vincentian Fathers accepted 17-year-old Keith Turnbull in 1946 and for more than 65 years he has given his all to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and the order’s founder St Vincent de Paul.
“It’s funny, all I ever wanted to be was a priest,” he said.
“From the first day I was at secondary college, I just wanted to be a priest.
“I had no desire to be anything else.
“We had a couple of Vincentians come to the college (Assumption College, Kilmore) and give us a retreat and I was very impressed by them.
“So I was just attracted to them that’s all. The priest said he was doing missions here and missions there, so I said ‘that’ll do me, I like travelling’.”
After ordination in 1952, Fr Turnbull served in parishes, leadership roles with the St Vincent de Paul Society and with Ozcare in a variety of positions.
“I mainly was in Sydney or Queensland, Rockhampton or Brisbane and here at Southport,” he said.
“Then for nine years I became the provincial. Apart from those nine years I was at various parishes.
“Out of the blue I became provincial. I’ll never forget that as long as I live.
“Then for 10 years I was involved in the St Vincent de Paul Society. I was in charge of formation training in Australia.
“During that time Ozcare was formed and I was asked would I be chairman of Ozcare, which I did for 10 years, while I was still carrying the other duties.
“And then when Ozcare was united again back to the society I was still chaplain to them.
“So when we built this place they built this room for me and so about 12 months ago I said ‘I might as well move down there’
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“I’ve had a couple of heavy falls and I didn’t quite know when one of these might produce detrimental effects.”
Fr Turnbull celebrates Mass at the Keith Turnbull Place, Southport, each Sunday and offers confessions and spiritual direction to other residents.
“I’ve tried to be faithful to the priesthood,” he said.
“I’ve always been able to get on well with people, (and) I’ve found my work as a priest, the ministry, very satisfying.
“I can go back and think of various times and certain people who came back to the Church or certain people joined the Church, that kind of thing.
“But I suppose what I would see as the greatest point is the fact I’ve been able to keep the things I’ve done going and still remain faithful to the priesthood.”
Fr Turnbull regularly returned to Vincentian-run parishes during his ministry to rekindle friendships.
“I’m like the bad penny, I keep turning up,” he said.
He has a special affection for Southport, where he helped develop the parish in his years there.
His room sits less than 50m from the St Joseph the Worker Church, Southport – a monument to his faith in God and his dedication.
“I built that in 1970,” he said.
“I did a lot of building here; this was a developing community.
“I came at the time when the Gold Coast was just starting to bloom. I tried to keep up with that.
“I was very busy here, but I enjoyed it very much.”
The church is also a reminder of one of the saddest days of Fr Turnbull’s priesthood when the Vincentians order was forced to hand control of the parish to Brisbane archdiocese in 2006 due to lack of priests.
“It was a very, very sad day,” he said.
“They’d been here since 1932.
“(It was especially sad) for me as I had been parish priest here for 13 or 14 years.
“There’s a lot of my sweat in this area.
“I felt it and the people thought it was a very sad day.”
Fr Turnbull’s dedication was also honoured with an Order of Australia award in the 2004 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for “service to the community, particularly through the establishment of aged care, rehabilitation, refuge and respite services, and to the Catholic Church”.
He is proud of his achievements, but knows he can’t keep up his hectic pace due to age and illness.
“I’m 84 now, I’ve done my bit for 60 years, all I can do now is do my little bit and keep going, keep out of mischief,” he said.
“I haven’t turned it in altogether just yet.
“I’d like to be more active but I don’t have the stamina, I don’t have the application I used to have.
“I’m just here to fit in wherever I can.
“I don’t think that I’ve retired, but I couldn’t undertake a project. I can fill in and I can help, but that’s about as far as it goes.
“Give me a couple of hours and I’ve had it.”
Fr Turnbull will continue to “do his bit” where he can and help out God’s children.
He has given his life to the service of the poor and anyone who needed help.
The Gold Coast Bulletin in the 1970s acknowledged his commitment and foresight with erudite praise.
“He was always approachable and patient with a jovial personality and pleasant manner. A man of vision and inexhaustible energy,” the paper wrote.
It’s an accurate description of a man of God dedicated to making the lives of others better.
