John William Turner. Jr., 79, of Manteca, California passed away Friday, April 14, 2023, at the Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara, due to complications after heart surgery. He was surrounded by family in his hospital room and his wife Carol was holding his hand.
He is survived by his wife of almost 40 years, Carol Bridgeford Turner and daughters Sara Marques of Rocklin, CA and Frank Avila, Carrie Pitkin of Roseville CA, and her spouse Richard Pitkin and Angela Pease of Fresno, CA. Also survived by his sons Steven Pease of St. Augustine, FL and his spouse Carolyn Renee Pease and Jason Pease of Livermore, and his brother Charles Turner, of Lake Tahoe. He had several grandchildren, Savannah White, Stephanie Marques, Lailah Avila, Morgan Pitkin, Lillian Pitkin, Caralena Pitkin, Lauren Pease and Aidan Pease and sister-in-law Janice Bridgeford, brother-in-law and sister-in-law William and Diane Devitt. His mother Margaret Rose Olsen and father, John William Turner, Sr. predeceased him
John was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Napa, California. He graduated from Ridgeview Junior High School in 1949, Napa Senior High School in 1961. He went to Brigham Young University in Utah and graduated in 1969. He then attended UC Davis, King Hall, Law School, and graduated in 1972. He passed the California State BAR in 1974 and was employed by the California State Department of Social Service for 36 years, first as a Hearing Representative and then an Administrative Law Judge.
He married Valerie Rubke in 1966. They had two daughters, Sara and Carrie. They were divorced in 1979. In 1983, after a one month whirlwind courtship, he married Carol Bridgeford Pease and with her daughter and two sons and his two daughters they formed their blended family.
John loved his family, his Alfa Romeo car, his Ducati motorcycle, the Mitsubishi sports car and all kinds of music. He really loved music, he had five sets of over-ear head-phones on stands in his “music room” and a collection of over 1000 CDs. In the last few years, he became a “Swifty” and considered himself one of Taylor Swift’s biggest and maybe one of her oldest fans. He enjoyed big family gatherings at his home, especially for Christmas, and Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve. He loved animals especially his favorite dog “Bogie” that predeceased him, but he leaves three cats that adored him and would all sit on his lap all at once.
John loved traveling and traveled with Carol extensively, especially after retirement. They traveled to Mexico, Canada, England, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Curacao, Venezuela, Morocco and China. In Venezuela, they went to the jungle and flew over Angel Falls in a modified old DC10. In China he got to walk on the Great Wall. He enjoyed cruises and went on several all throughout Mexico, the Caribbean, Eastern Canada, and Alaska. They purchased a vacation condo time-share in Maui, Hawaii and he enjoyed staying there and sharing it with his family. They drove across the United States on long road trips twice to Chicago, IL and twice to the Florida Keys and drove through parts of Eastern Canada seeing Niagara Falls from the Canada side.
He lived in Visalia, CA from 1989 to 2012, due to Carol’s employment. He was able to work from home and travel throughout California for his job as an Administrative Law Judge. After retirement, in 2012, he and Carol moved to Manteca into the Woodbridge Del Webb Community. He enjoyed the wonderful neighbors, the activities, the treadmill at the gym, riding his bike on the trails, the dances, and the wine club, even after he no longer drank alcohol
He requested no funeral but the family may have a celebration of his life on what would have been his eightieth birthday in June. Everyone who knew him thought he was such a kind and compassionate man, one of the really good ones and everyone will miss him.
P. L. Fry and Son is honored to be serving the Turner family. For direct condolences to the family visit John’s tribute page at www.plfryandson.com
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Saturday, April 22, 2023
