Ted Turner

Teddy Wade Turner, son of Thelma Maude (Wade) and Gene Turner, was born on February 6, 1938, in Broyles Community, Missouri, in a dirt floor chicken-coop. Ted graduated from Mountain Grove High School in 1955 and then from Southwest Missouri State College through the Army ROTC program in 1959, where he earned a Bachelor Degree in Elementary Education.

Ted served on the rifle team during his undergraduate studies and won many shooting competitions and awards. Ted entered the Army service in 1959 as a Second Lieutenant. He was on the All Army Rifle Team at Fort Leonard Wood; he earned the President’s 100 Tab two years in a row as one of the top 100 shooters in the nation. His military career took him to Korea, Vietnam and Germany, along with several posts in the states. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1980 and began a business in San Antonio, Texas installing fireplaces. Ted returned to his home state in 1988, where he lived for the rest of his life.

He is survived by: his devoted wife, Evelyn (Beauman); brother, Charlie and wife, Nancy; sister, Deloris Gaddis; brother, David and wife, Pam; three children: son, John and wife, Trena, of Mountain Grove; daughter, Teri and husband, Bob Utter, of Springfield, Missouri; son, Brian and wife, Alycia, of Brunswick, Georgia; seven grandchildren, Alex and wife, Monica, Kyla and husband, Jonathan, Katie and husband, Aaron, Savanna and husband, Ethan, Kourtney, Colton and Max; and six great-grandchildren, Maelyn, Liam, Silas, Audrey, Emmett and Charlie.

Ted was a loving and caring husband, he took great joy in everyone around him, especially his family, and always took time to be there for others. He was a brave, level-headed, thoughtful man with a playful sense of humor and a deep sense of duty and country; he was truly a man of action and his word. Ted was a master carpenter and took great pride in making beautiful wood furniture; he carved or sawed wood into amazing pieces of art.