HOWARD TURNER

HOWARD TURNER
March 4, 1938 - November 10, 2025
With great sadness, the family of Howard Hull Turner announces his death at age 87 on November 10, 2025, at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from complications related to Parkinson's disease.
Born in Portage, Wisconsin, Howard was the son of dairy farmers Frederick and Mary (Dewsnap) Turner and the fourth of their five children. He attended public schools, including a one-room school in Wisconsin for several years and larger schools in both Wisconsin and Washington State. He graduated from high school in Portage, Wisconsin, and enrolled at Whitworth College (now Whitworth University) in Spokane, Washington, graduating in 1962. Drafted a few months later, he chose instead to enlist and served for three years in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco.
Reluctantly leaving his single life in San Francisco, Howard returned to the Midwest and began working for Continental Illinois National Bank. He adapted easily to Chicago and formed friendships that lasted a lifetime. After starting in bank operations, Howard moved into commercial lending and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. His career with Continental took him from Chicago to Houston, where he met and married his wife, Cynthia-a fellow Chicago transplant-in 1975; to Calgary, where he opened and managed an office serving Canadian oil and gas companies; and to Denver, where he assumed management of the bank's Denver office and where their son, Alex, was born in 1983. The family returned to Chicago in 1986 following Continental's failure, with Howard remaining at the bank until 1991. He completed his career at the Bank of Montreal in Chicago and retired in 1999.
Retirement brought numerous volunteer opportunities, including various church positions, tutoring at a nonprofit community organization on Chicago's North Side, and teaching English as a second language. Volunteering became an even larger part of his life after he and Cynthia retired to Santa Fe in 2006. He served as a substitute driver for Kitchen Angels, worked as a homework tutor at the former Alto Street Boys & Girls Club, and volunteered as a Santa Fe National Forest Site Steward. He also found time to golf, take up fly fishing, sing in First Presbyterian Church's choir, and ski, spending one season as a ski instructor at Ski Santa Fe. During their years in Santa Fe, he and Cynthia enjoyed the city's cultural life and traveling, especially their visits to Japan, where their son Alex lives.
Howard was predeceased by his parents and his brother, Allan. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Cynthia; his son, Alex, and daughter-in-law, Tarn; his sisters, Florence Dalton and Janet Twibell; his brother, Hugh Turner, and sister-in-law, Barbara; and many nieces and nephews.
Howard is remembered by family and friends for the kindness, honesty, generosity, patience, and intelligence with which he approached everything-even as he faced the increasingly destructive effects of Parkinson's disease. His family is deeply grateful for the compassionate care provided by the Egis Complete Care aides during his final years.
A memorial service is planned for early 2026 in Santa Fe, and his ashes will be interred this coming summer in North Marcellon, Wisconsin.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Kitchen Angels.