Eldon 'Bud' Turner

Hastings resident, Eldon Bud Turner, 89, passed away Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital, Hastings, NE. Mr. Turner requested no services, and a private burial in Hastings will be at a later date. Condolences may be sent to the family from www.brandwilson.com. Brand-Wilson Funeral Home and Cremation are in charge of the arrangements. Eldon A. (Bud) Turner was born to Wayne and Vivian (Collins) Turner in the Ord, Ne. area on March 15, 1920. He graduated from Ord High School in 1938. Following graduation, he worked for DeLong Painting Contractors of Nebraska City, Ne. He enlisted in the Signal Corps in 1943 and attended Milford Radio School, Milford, Ne. He transferred to the U.S.A.F. and attended gunnery school in Kingman, Az., then to Dyersburg, Tn. for overseas training. He was deployed overseas in 1944 and served as a waist gunner on a B17. He was stationed at Deenethorpe Air Force Base near Kettering, England, with the 401st Bomb Group. After flying 35 missions over German territory, he returned to the United States and was stationed at Miami Beach until his discharge. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters and three Bronze Stars, and the European-African Middle Eastern Ribbon. Following his discharge, he settled in Hastings to join his brother, Gerald, in business as Turner Bros. Industrial Maintenance. He married Venus Knapp Strickland on December 18, 1958. After retiring in 1985, he and Venus moved to their summer home at Harry Strunk Lake near Cambridge, Ne., and spent their winters at their home in Etzatlan, Jalisco, Mexico. They returned to Hastings in 1995. Mr. Turner was currently a member of Hastings Lodge #50, A.F.& A.M., and formerly a member of Scottish Rite, Tehama Shrine, and Tehama Sandheaters. He served as a past patron of Acacia Chapter #39, Order of the Eastern Star. He is survived by his wife, three children, Sandy Dennison of Miami, Az., Donrue Turner of Hastings, Ne., and Robert Strickland of Woodstock, Ga., seven grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, one brother, Gerald, and one sister, Audrey Draver of Burwell, Ne. Memorial gifts may be given to the Shriners Hospitals for Children.