David Garry Kurtz

A memorial celebration is being planned for March 29, 2025 in Saskatoon. We hope you will join us. In lieu of flowers please donate to your local food bank.

David Garry Kurtz (b. September 4, 1947) passed away on October 27, 2024 surrounded by his family. He was predeceased by his parents, Elmer and Dorothy, and is survived by his brothers, Barry, Greg, Brian, and Rod; his children, Bonnie (Dave), Scott (Chantelle), and Jordan; his grandchildren, Liam, Carter, Kaitlyn, Jack, and Henry; and his beloved wife of 51 years, Gaye.

David’s life was guided by the strength and constancy of his belief in Jesus Christ. His simple faith in the gospel was demonstrated by his actions, especially in the way he treated everyone he met with kindness and acceptance. He was warm and fun (a lover of harmless pranks, and puns so bad that the groans were part of the joke), quick to hug, quicker to cry, and always ready with a whispered word of encouragement. He was impeccably dressed, maddeningly principled, occasionally grumpy (but never mean), a painfully slow eater who disliked pepperoni pizza (too spicy) and warmed his orange juice in the microwave to take the edge off. He drove 2 km below the speed limit and often threatened to turn the car around and go home if the kids didn’t stop fighting (they didn't and he didn't). He smelled like old spice aftershave and honey lemon Halls.

David did a little bit of everything. As a young man he worked on BC Ferries (constantly seasick) and in the paint department at Woolworth’s (literally colorblind). Later he was a farmhand for his father-in-law, sold pianos in Kamloops and Regina, DJ’d the evening shift at CKSW Swift Current, managed a portrait studio in Saskatoon, drove taxi, drove truck, and a dozen other things besides—all of it to provide for his family and to enable his lifelong passion of spreading the gospel of Jesus through music ministry.

More than anything else, David lived a life of music. As a teenager in Nanaimo, he stayed after church every Sunday and played piano for hours until his family would return for the evening prayer meeting. He taught himself to play by ear and learned the hymns and songs of the gospel quartets he loved. He sang beautifully, without pretense, and had a great ear for finding the sweetest harmony; to the end he was invariably on-key. In 1969 in Kelowna, he founded The Centurions—one of the earliest gospel rock bands. They toured throughout the Pacific Northwest until 1972 and recorded two groundbreaking albums.

To hear him tell it, David knew right away, when he heard a soulful soprano echoing through the church, that he had met his match. Gaye Jacobson must have felt the same way because they were married the following year on August 4, 1973, embarking on a freewheeling five-decade partnership full of love and music and arguments about key-changes. They recorded two albums, touring as a gospel trio with David’s brother Rod, and later as a duet. They welcomed Bonnie into the world in 1978, Scott in 1983, and Jordan in 1985. At age 40, David started attending Canadian Bible College in Regina where he finally got around to a few piano lessons and learned to read a little music. After they moved to Saskatoon, he worked as a music pastor in the 90s and as the Executive Director of Gospel Echoes Prison Ministry in the early 00s before retiring to spend time indulging his grandchildren and roaming the highways and byways with the love of his life reading in the passenger seat. He was never happier.

Tragically, David was diagnosed in 2022 with vascular dementia. He declined rapidly and lost his memories and his music. Near the end he couldn’t remember anyone but Gaye—she was his anchor to the last, and he would only relax when he knew that she was safe and sound. On October 27 he suffered a sudden pulmonary embolism and was rushed to hospital where he died.

As a husband, father, grandfather, brother, son, and friend, David Kurtz was caring and kind—a truly good and decent man; his example of unconditional love will reverberate through the lives of everyone fortunate enough to have known him. He will be missed.

Martens Warman Funeral Home is honoured to be entrusted with David's care.