Fred Turbeville

1940 - 2016

Fred M. Turbeville, Jr.

1940-2016

Fred Morton Turbeville, Jr. (Buster to his family and friends), 76, of Pensacola, Florida, took his last flight, a heavenly mission that is hard to reject, a permanent deployment, to re-unite with family and friends on December 20th, 2016. Fred's wonderful new residence is in a fabulous location where he will be socializing, dancing, playing piano and being the life of the party to his heart's delight.

A military service will be held at 11:00 am, Wednesday, January 4th at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida at the Barrancas National Cemetery followed by a celebration of his amazing life filled with music and stories back at his home in Pensacola, Florida.

Fred Morton Turbeville, Jr. was the son of Dr. & Mrs. Fred Morton Turbeville, Sr. Fred's brother is Dr. David Franklin Turbeville of Fort Worth, Texas (sister-in-law Priscilla, and nephews Mark and Jason). Fred was born July 14th, 1940 in Birmingham, Alabama (November 14th if you ask his brother David). He grew-up in Greenville, Texas and attended Greenville High School (home of the Greenville Lions, where Fred is considered a "Lion for Life"), and graduated in 1957. He attended Texas A&M, and later graduated from East Texas State University in 1961.

Fred became an Ensign in the United States Navy in October of 1961, and completed his United States Navy Aviation Officer Training in November of the same year. In February of 1962, Fred did, alone and unassisted, take off and return to U.S. Naval Air Station Saufley Field, Pensacola, Florida, thereby completing his first solo flight. On the 27th day of May,1963, Fred was designated as a Naval Aviator with his father doing the honor of pinning on his Gold Naval Aviator Wings. Fred completed the U.S. Naval Justice School in August of 1963…and then came the big event in his life…he got married!

On August 30th, 1963, he married the former Deane Bennett Sullivan at the Church of Good Shepherd in Corpus Christi, Texas. Following a honeymoon in Las Vegas, Nevada, the newly married couple started on a life-long journey of love, affection, dancing (just ask his wife Deane about the "Disco" years), entertaining and just a few disagreements (here and there) and then building a family. Besides raising a family, and moving around from places like Houston, Texas (where Fred was an Assistant Professor of Naval Science at Rice University) to Honolulu, Hawaii, Raleigh, North Carolina and even Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Over Fred's 23 years as an aviator, he flew the Navy's T—28 Trojan, T-2 Buckeye, Martin P5M Marlin, the Lockheed P-3 Orion and the Convair C-131 Samaratin amounting over 19,000 flight hours. Upon retirement from the Navy in 1984, Fred spent the remaining years as one of the best-darned salesmen you would ever meet (a trait that he passed on to his children).

Fred has three children: Fred Morton Turbeville III (known as Trey to everyone), Christopher Wentworth Turbeville (just Chris) and Deane Turbeville Sexton (you can call her Deanie). Fred also has five beautiful grandchildren, two from Chris (and his wife, Bonnie), Sarah (17) & Jack (15), as well as three from Deanie and (her husband Jeff Sexton), Lily (13), Colleen (9) and Natalie (7).

Fred is preceded in the final journey of his life by his parents, grandparents and nephews John and Justin.

Because Fred was such a lifelong animal lover- in lieu of flowers, please make checks or donations to Friends of the Escambia County Animal Shelter or via PayPal to ecasfriends@gmail.com Payment may be sent to P.O. Box 11553, Pensacola, FL 32524. There is also a "Donate Now" button on the official facebook page www.facebook.com/ecasfriends/

National Cremation and Burial Society is entrusted with the arrangements.

Express your condolences in our guestbook at pnj.com/obits