DAVID TURNER obituary

David Henry Turner, 86, died from Alzheimer's disease on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004, at Eagle Cliff Manor in Billings.

Cremation has taken place, and a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Cremation or Funeral Gallery, 29 Eighth St. W. in Billings.

He was born on Aug. 27, 1918, in Malta to David William Turner and Alvina Beatrice Cebulski. He spent his early years on the family homestead southwest of Landusky. The family moved from the homestead and eventually settled in Havre, where he grew up and graduated from Havre High School. Prior to World War II, he worked on the Great Northern Railway. During World War II, he was with the U.S. Army Air Force headquarters command, first as an air gunnery instructor at Carlsbad, N.M., and then as a B-17 waist gunner stationed at Dyersburg, Tenn.

In Tennessee, he met Mary Fay Winburn, and they were married on May 1, 1945, in Brownsville, Tenn. After the war, they settled in Havre, where they raised their family. He was employed by the Great Northern Railway and retired from railroading as an Amtrak conductor in 1978, after 37 years of service. He continued residing in Havre until May 2000, when, due to his advancing illness, he moved to Billings.

He was a longtime member of the Sixth Avenue Christian Church of Havre. He was an active Mason, and was past master of Havre Blue Lodge 55. Other Masonic activities included past patron of Eastern Star, Havre York Rite bodies: Royal Arch, Commandry, Council and York Rite Red Cross of Constantine. David was a member of the Algeria Shrine.

He was preceded in death by his parents, an infant child, four brothers and a sister.

Survivors include his wife, Mary Fay; children, David (Irene) of El Segundo, Calif., Mary (Jim) Turner of Silesia, Sandra (Clarence) Grayson of West Jordan, Utah, Stan of Malta and Kathy (Glen) Van Wagoner of Midway, Utah; brothers, Woodrow of Moses Lake, Wash., and Jim of Havre; and seven grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Shriner's Hospital in care of Al Bedoo Shrine, P.O. Box 20673, Billings, MT 59104 or the Alzheimer's Association, 919 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1000, Chicago, Ill, 60611-1676.