Harry Eugene Turner

Harry Eugene Turner died July 28, 2009, in Springfield; he was 85. He was born January 31, 1924 in Liberal, Kansas to Raymond Allen Turner and Alice Winifred Arbuthnot. When he was 5, Harry came to Baca County. He rode on a tractor driven by his uncle Virgil Arbuthnot. At night, the two boys slept under a trailer. During his life in Baca county, he lived in Two Buttes, Walsh, Springfield, Lycan, Campo and surrounding regions. Harry farmed, ranched and was a skilled mechanic. In World War II, he was a rifle sharpshooter in the Army's infantry and became Staff Sergeant in charge of the motor pool of 50 vehicles, with their mechanics and truck drivers, for the 52nd Signal Battalion in liberated Korea. Harry married Verda Marie Tague December 28, 1942 in Boise City, Oklahoma. She survives him as do his children; Ronald (Pat) of Two Buttes; Donald (Mary Lee) of Wiley; and Debra (Dave McCoy) of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Six grandchildren; Pamela of Fort Worth; Dusty (Sherilyn) of Springfield; Lance (Tressa) of Walsh; Staci (Scott Smith); Curtis (Araceli) of Wiley; and Christy (Doug Suhler) of Loveland survive as do 14 great-grandchildren. Also surviving are his sister, Barbara Grant of Springfield; half-siblings, Nita Scott of Walsh; Marjorie Wingrove of San Bernardino, California; Raymond "Bud" Turner of San Juan Capistrano, California; and Ronald Turner of Sun City, California; Half-siblings, Darlene Negrete of Lewis, Kansas; Jim Davis of Wichita, Kansas; and Larry Turner of Sun City, California predeceased him. He was a farmer of wheat, milo, sunflowers, and other crops, including sugar beets and corn when he had irrigated land. He loved to buy and sell vehicles and to talk about buying and selling them. But most of all, he loved his family. The final hours before his death had good moments: Harry saw water running in Butte Creek, checked crops and talked about the four-wheel drive pickup that would be needed for winter. He slept with the sounds of rain and thunder outside his window.