Grace McTurk of Montauk, “the last of the old guard,” her family said, died in her sleep on Dec. 11 in Viera, Fla. She was 104 and had not been ill.
There wasn’t a resident of Montauk who didn’t know “Gracie,” her family wrote, as for more than 40 years she arranged charters and sold souvenirs, bait, and ice cream at Tuma’s Dock and the Montauk Marine Basin. She was commonly seen with perfect hair, makeup, and long red nails, plucking bait worms and placing them in boxes to sell.
She was born on June 10, 1919, in West Sayville to Gabriel Kwaak and the former Mary Beebe, part of a Great South Bay clamming family. She grew up there, moving to Montauk in 1951 with her husband, George Briggs McTurk, a charter boat fisherman.
At the time, most of Montauk Harbor was a beach, her family remembered. The Montauk Marine Basin had a small store and the Viking Dock was a bulkhead with boats where children would swim and crab. Tuma’s Dock and Tackle Shop was the only store in the area, and Mrs. McTurk loved the children who frequented the docks, referring to them as her kids. She would fuss over them in the shop at Tuma’s, making sure they wore sunscreen and hats and buying them ice cream. The Tuma, Darenberg, and Hewitt children, who referred to her as Aunt Grace, were her favorites, her family said.
To the next generation she was known as Grandma Grace, but her close family called her Nan as she was the matriarch of three daughters, 10 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and 17 great-great-grandchildren. The Tuma, Darenberg, Hewitt, Forsberg, Briand, and Houston families enjoy a special bond with Mrs. McTurk to this day, her family said. To her last days, she lovingly and longingly told stories about Montauk and her “kids,” and cherished singing “Jesus Loves Me” with some of her great-great-grandchildren.
She is additionally survived by a daughter, Maryanne Houston of Blue Point. Her daughters Muriel Forsberg and Marjorie Grant died before her. Mr. McTurk died in 2006.
Mrs. McTurk was cremated and her ashes dispersed at Shagwong Reef off Montauk. A memorial service will be held in Montauk in the spring.
