Extraordinary LIVES
KEVIN was born in Northampton hospital after a shaky pregnancy. His father Terry and I had been in a bad car accident when I was six months pregnant. We were trapped and had to be rescued by the emergency services. My stomach had two black and blue stripes on it from the seatbelt. After that experience, we moved to Watford with baby Kevin and our two-year-old daughter to be near my parents. We had a wonderful 20 years living on Talbot Avenue where there where ten families with children of the same age. There were street parties, a baby-sitting circle and Kevin made his life-long friends. He played football and took up golf at the age of ten. He was an energetic boy who could never sit still for long, but he did like a cuddle. Sport kept him on the straight and narrow until his late teens when he discovered girls! Kevin always strived to be the best at whatever he did. When he was only 25, he opened a furniture shop in Totteridge, North London. Later, he set up his own business renovating bathrooms, kitchens, decorating and fencing. He was self-taught and always took the utmost care and consideration in
all that he did. Many of his customers became friends. Kevin renovated multi-million-pound flats opposite Harrods and many other upmarket properties. Whenever he was asked to do something, he always said: ‘No probs!’ He loved an adventure and with his friend Kevin Foster, aka The K Team, they raced from Budapest to Bamako in Mali in a £300 car. They broke down many times and had an armed guard in North Africa because of terrorists. Kevin was always the party organiser and, singing and dancing, was at the centre of any fun occasion. He arranged golf outings at home and abroad for his mates — there were eight of them who had been close since nursery and school — and always included his dad. He was married to Nikki for nine years and their garden was the scene of many happy family barbecues. One of his most memorable events was a Thirties fancy dress New Year’s Eve party with a champagne tower.
Just before he died, he had passed the interview to do a couple of legs of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race next year. We were worried that it was dangerous, but he insisted he wanted to do it. His mantra was: ‘I want to feel I am living and not just existing.’ There were 300 people at his funeral. So many people have told us how he had helped them or their children become better people.
KEVIN SMITH, born August 25, 1977; died February 6, 2020, aged 42.