Paul “Red” Manville Turner, Sr., 90, passed away at his home in Kingston, MA, peacefully, surrounded by his family. He was a resident of Braintree and Plymouth for many years with time also in Virginia and Florida.
He leaves his wife of 42 years, Maureen (McNally) Turner; his daughter, Debra (Keith) Whitaker of Kingston; his son, Paul (Donna) Turner of South Carolina; his daughter, Lori (Brad) Wallace of Sandwich; eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Red was predeceased by his former wife, Rose (Tiberian) Turner (mother of his children).
Born in Washington, D.C., Red always considered himself a true southerner. He was the son of Paul and Willa (Manville) Turner.
Red was the quintessential American and extremely proud to have served in the Korean War. He loved America and after husband and father, American was his proudest title.
Red was a truck driving man, oil trucks and big rigs. He worked for Barile’s Oil, as an independent and the U.S. Postal Service. He was a big stock car racing fan and he helped crew for Leo Cleary (of New England racing fame). His kids grew up with the sounds and smells of a race car being worked on in their garage and spent a lot of time at racetracks. Red was playing softball well into his 50’s with guys 20 and 30 years younger and could play as well as most of them. Twenty years later, if you could catch a glimpse of a speeding mountain bike going by, you would never have thought the rider was a man in his 70’s. Strong and athletic were two adjectives that perfectly described him.
Red was not a guy to have a lot of heroes besides his father and the men and women of the American Armed Forces. Dale Earnhardt, the famed nascar driver, was an exception. He was a special person to Red because he was a great athlete who never gave up and maybe because tough guys with lots of soft spots have an affinity.
Red was one of those guys that if he liked you, he let you find those soft spots. He was much loved and will be greatly missed.