Friday 15 May saw the death of Kevin Veal, the oldest employee of the GPI Group of companies.
Kevin joined Colin Edwards in June 1982 and retired in October 2010. However, he soon got tired of sitting around and re-joined GPI in August 2012. Kevin was initially a salesman for Massey Holden, one of GPI’s distributors. Colin founded GPI in 1978, but had previously worked for General Paper Industries as an automotive van salesman.
In 1982 Kevin approached Colin to discuss a role as an automotive salesperson, although this time calling on distributors instead of calling on end users. Kevin joined GPI and his first company car was an ex-Avis green Falcon Station Wagon bought at auction. For many years Colin and Kevin had a very close relationship and they both worked hard to create GPI.
In his latter stages, Kevin would arrive at work in his wheelchair, which allowed him to continue to take phone orders until mid-March, but he knew that it was getting harder for him to continue his duties. He made Colin promise to invite him to his 80th birthday party, although due to the coronavirus this milestone event was cancelled. Sadly, Kevin’s health continued to deteriorate, and he passed away.