JOSEPH TURNER

Joseph J. Turner Joseph J. Turner loved his friends, his family, fantasy football, films, food, fun, March Madness, his cats, Carla, and fighting the good fight. He hated pretense and posing, hypocrisy and hype, liars and loafers, bigots, bullies and braggarts, and self-serving public servants. He spent most of his life as a reporter at The News Tribune, making them as uncomfortable as he could while helping newspaper readers unravel the complex issues and operations of government at all levels. He was passionate about integrity, objectivity, loyalty, and gardening. Turner, 63, was born in Tacoma Oct. 29, 1950, and died in Tacoma July 11, 2014. Between those dates at various times he would have been found at Bellarmine Preparatory School, the U.S. Army in Vietnam, the University of Washington, the Yakima Herald Republic, The News Tribune, or in the vegetable patches in the front and back yards of his North Tacoma home. He loved gardening, hated yard work, and his neighbors referred to him as Farmer Joe. On his post-retirement business card he called himself Joe Turner/Gentleman Farmer. Harvest time would find Joe in his kitchen surrounded by rank upon rank of clean canning jars waiting to be filled from bubbling kettles of blanching beans, steaming vats of pickling brine, heaps of cucumbers, piles of corn, and buckets of tomatoes or strawberries or peaches or beets most of them from his own gardens. He canned soups he concocted (a secret ingredient was cloves), salmon if the price was right, jam when the berries were in, and whatever else came to mind. Throughout the rest of the year, visitors to Joe's house often left lugging a plastic bag with clinking jars of pickles (the spicy ones much sought after by all who had ever tasted them), beef stew, dilled beans, or brined calliflower. "Be sure to bring the jars back," he admonished as visitors left. "I'll use them again next year." The scene was much the same when Joe entertained. He dominated the kitchen as he brought together people from the various circles of his life; classmates, sports enthusiasts, folks from his AA group, family members, work associates, and often the people he met in the hallways and offices of local, county, and state government. Beginning in 1978 the Joseph Turner byline first began appearing in The News Tribune on general assignment stories, then the police beat, city hall, and county government. "He was the most courageous guy I ever knew," said Jeff Weathersby, a longtime friend and fellow journalist who had teamed with Joe on stories including the corruption and racketeering scandal in the Pierce County Sheriff's office in the late 1970s. Those stories led to a reorganization of Pierce County's form of government, and he reported on that process and the election of the county's first executive, Booth Gardner Joe's territory shifted to the state capitol when Gardner was elected governor in 1985. Turner wrote about state government, the legislature, transportation issues, and politics for The News Tribune until his retirement in 2009. At the time of his retirement, he was the senior reporter at the state house and was highly regarded by fellow journalists, and respected if not always liked by the bureaucrats and office holders he covered. "He took very complex issues and made them understandable for the readers, people like you and me," said, Rob Tucker, a reporter who worked with Turner at The News Tribune. "And he did it quickly and accurately." Another former colleague, Sandi Doughton, reminisced "about Joe's skill at flirting up secretaries and clerks. "He'd be a bastard on the phone with a lawmaker, then switch on the charm for Loreen or Shirley or whatever the secretary's name was," she said. After he retired, Joe said he turned down job offers from various political organizations because, "I didn't want anyone to be able to say, 'We always knew he was one of those (a liberal or a conservative).' " Joe was the second of four children of Willie John and Margaret Turner. He attended All Saints grade school in Puyallup and Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, where he graduated in 1968. He enlisted in the U.S. Army following graduation, and served as an infantryman in Vietnam, where he attained the rank of sergeant. He was proud to point out that he spent 11 of his 12 months in Vietnam in the field. "Everything you did there was important," he once said. "Your life depended on it." "He once told me he insisted on walking on point during dangerous patrols, because he believed he would be the best at ensuring that his patrol survived," said Tucker. "He brought that courage to the newsroom, too." After Vietnam, nothing really frightened him, Turner once said. It was one of the things that allowed him to confront powerful figures in government and at work. "What are they going to do? Send me to Vietnam?" he said more than once. Following his military service, Joe attended The University of Washington where he studied journalism. He married Dr. Ann Stewart in 1976. The marriage was brief and ended in divorce. He was an intern at The News Tribune, then worked at The Herald Republic, the daily newspaper in Yakima, before returning to The News Tribune where he worked for more than 30 years. "Oh that is just heartbreaking news," said Hunter George when he learned of Joe's death. George was Turner's former team leader at the paper. "He and Karen Hucks (another News Tribune reporter) were my first two friends when I arrived in Olympia in '96. I loved working side-by-side with him, and I loved being his editor. "Such a bright, witty guy who always carried the conversation to such enjoyable places. I worked with him or near him in the same newsroom for more than 25 years and it was always a pleasure," Rob Tucker said. "He was a great friend, always inclusive and a person who loved throwing parties at his house to bring people together." In September 1992, Turner married Carla Harris, who was at his side at the time of his death. Turner is survived by Carla; his mother, Margaret Cardwell, and his step-father, Rod Cardwell, of Gig Harbor; two sisters, Linda Ellingson and her husband John of Tacoma, and Kathy LeTourneau and her husband Patrick of Bremerton; his brother, John Turner and his wife Cheri of Gig Harbor, four nieces: Meredith LeTourneau, of Bremerton, Corinne LeTourneau, of Seattle, Sophia Ellingson, of Tacoma, and Rebecca Ellingson, of Tacoma; two great nieces, Natalie Godbolt, of Bremerton, and Brooke Jaquez, of Sumner, and a great nephew, Luke Godbolt, of Bremerton. He was preceded in death by his cats Velcro and Bella, and is survived by cats Julie Girl and Gizmo. Joe's friends and associates are invited to remember Joe at a gathering Aug. 3, at the Old Town Music Society building, 2101 N. 30Th St., Tacoma. The event will begin at 1 p.m. with a social hour and will be followed with a memorial program beginning at about 2 p.m. A Mass for Joe will be held at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, at St. Nicholas Catholic Church, 3510 Rosedale St. NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335.