A Tribute to My Grandfather
About 2:40 this afternoon the phone rang. It was my mother with a phone call I knew would be coming. She informed me that my grandfather, John Turner Sr., had passed away about 20 minutes earlier. There is no doubt he is in a much better place now; a place where pain will never be a problem.
Tom Brokaw called his “The Greatest Generation.” I am fortunate to have had three grandparents from that generation, and still have one. This generation helped bring our nation out of the Great Depression in their youth. Then they went overseas as young men and women and fought Mussolini, Hirohito and–most evil of all–Hitler. They defeated these terrible men and then returned to the United States. They could have sat back and just expected everything to be handed to them, but they didn’t. Instead, the helped move our nation forward through the largest era of expansion since the Industrial Revolution (and maybe even earlier).
Now many of them, lucky enough to have made it through World War II, are leaving this life, and, today, that number grew by one. John Turner was a lot of things but patriot comes to mind more often than anything. He is one of the few people I’ve ever known who didn’t just have an American flag on their house, he had a pole with the flag on it in his front yard. As long as health allowed, he believed firmly in voting and the political process. Should there be any wonder why? He lost part of a leg fighting to preserve those privileges.
The most important thing, however, is that grandpa was a Christian. After many years of unfaithfulness, he returned to the Lord and His Church. After making that great decision, grandpa made sure he gave liberally, helped with decision making and was an all-around better person. He had also given up smoking (cold turkey, no less) earlier. He lived faithfully until death, and is now waiting for Judgment–prepared.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth, of Paducah, Kentucky. He also is survived by both of their children, John Jr. (and wife Hetti) and Donna Faughn (and husband Jim). He has four grandchildren: Sherri Cox (and husband Ted), Laura Martin (and husband Ron), Amber Tatum (and husband Jeremiah) and me, Adam Faughn (and wife Leah). He has great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends.
Every time I think about getting a Blizzard from Dairy Queen, watching the “Clinton News Network,” or sitting in a Wal-Mart Snack Bar (remember those?), I’ll think of grandpa. A more proud man may have never lived, but he made me proud to call him grandpa.
