John Kemker, 76, hardware clerk, basketball fan

He enjoyed people, engaging them and assisting them.

After John Kemker retired from Gulf Oil Corp., he found the perfect place to do both: Handy Ace Hardware in Tucker, where he worked the past 21 years.

The Air Force veteran started out in the paint department. Female customers tested his skills. They’d bring in swatches of colors, show them to Kemker, and ask the Nashville native to whip out paint of the same hue, said his daughter, Carol Kemker of Atlanta.

“To him, that was so funny,” she said. “My dad was never one to just sit still. He likes people and folks there at Handy Ace were very nice. It was just a good opportunity for him.”

John Edward Kemker, 76, of Chamblee, died Friday of unknown causes while on the job. The funeral will be at

1 p.m. Monday at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Tucker. Bill Head Funeral Homes and Crematory is handling arrangements.

Mr. Kemker worked in Gulf Oil’s credit department for nearly 30 years, mostly in Houston. The Western Kentucky University grad was a big hoops fan. He rooted for his alma mater, as well as the schools his daughters attended — Georgia Tech and Texas A&M.

“After every Yellow Jacket win, we’d talk,” his daughter said. “We didn’t talk if they didn’t win.”

Additional survivors are his wife, Charlotte H. Kemker of Chamblee; a daughter, Sara K. Tays of New Braunfels, Texas; a son, John Edward Kemker III of Tucker; two brothers, Bernie Kemker of Jasper, Ind., and Joe Kemker of Gainesville, Fla.; and five grandchildren.