CARENCRO, La. — After suffering an unimaginable loss, one father is channeling his grief into purpose. Conley Turner, owner of Pool Guardian, is working to protect other families from the heartbreak he and his wife endured.
KATC spent time with Turner to learn more about how he's using his family's story to raise awareness and prevent drownings, one fence at a time.
"You pop up this knob and then you open it up and you see up here it even has a key to where you can lock it. So no one is getting in,” Turner explained, demonstrating how his mesh pool safety fence works.
Turner launched this life-saving business just two years ago, and more families have reached out to him each year since.
“The first year I did about a dozen of them. The second year, probably about twice as much as that—so about 20 to 24—and so far this year we are around 30,” he said.
It’s a family effort. His brother-in-law, Collin Gillis, helps with installation.
“It’s been great to be a part of something with the business values that it is,” Gillis said. “Because there is nothing more valuable than saving lives, protecting, and that peace of mind that it creates.”
The motivation behind the business is deeply personal.
“We started Pool Guardian in 2023 after losing our son to a drowning accident in 2022,” Turner said.
A year after the accident that claimed the life of 4-year-old Conley Jr., the family decided something had to change.
“We decided we wanted to do something to help ourselves feel better by making a difference. You hear ads on the radio about drowning being the number one cause of death under the age of 7, but it doesn’t really occur to you how common it is. So after we lost little Conley, we met other people who had been through the same thing,” he said.
“I was there in the tragedy in 2022. It’s a hard lesson to learn if a tragedy does happen to you," Gillis tells KATC.
Turner says his goal is to make pool protection accessible and affordable, installed with the kind of care he wishes he and his wife had found before the accident.
“We decided to start this because we wanted to fill a gap that was there for us. If there would have been a guy like me who showed up at my house with my price point and my turnaround time, things could have been different. So we decided to be that person and that difference,” Turner said.
Although the fence is a protected barrier, he also warns adults to still be cautious.
“Any little thing helps. The fence is there so that if we are not playing in the pool, then nobody is playing in the pool. But whenever you are in there, you still have to be mindful, and you have to watch,” he added.
The Turner family, now stronger through their grief, continues to move forward with the hope of helping and protecting others.
Turner says families can reach out to him directly for a free estimate and encourages everyone to take extra steps to protect their loved ones this summer.
