Ronald F. Turner

Ronald F. Turner age 83 of Juneau, Alaska passed away of cancer on Sunday, August 21, 2016 in Carson City, Nevada. His daughter Rhonda Dillon of Dayton, NV, grand daughter Shauna Daniels of Sparks, NV and his female companion , Darlene Weldon of Juneau Alaska was with him.

He was born in Oroville, California on April 16, 1933. Ron was the son of Willie & Alice Turner who had made their home in Oroville for many years. Ron attended schools in Oroville, graduating from Oroville, High School in 1950. While attending Oroville High School, Ron became interested in photography, he was the school photographer for the yearbook throughout his High School years. He made photography one of his many hobbies throughout his life.

Ron was married to Marlene Turner for over 50 years, she preceded him in death. He had three children, Rhonda Dillon of Dayton Nevada, Tann Turner of South Dakota and Marlon Turner of Reno, Nevada who passed away in 1986. Ron leaves behind 5 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. He also had three brothers, Danny, Dale and Steve along with one sister Fern. He had many nieces an nephews that he loved very much, his family always meant a great deal to him. Ron always made an honest attempt to be there for any of his family or friends helping them in any way he could.. After his wife passed away, Ron’s daughter introduced him to Darlene Weldon from Juneau, Alaska. They had a lot in common, and become very close. She was his constant companion for the past 7 plus years. They traveled together visiting and exploring Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and numerous other bordering states. They enjoyed traveling to Lake Havasu City, Arizona in the winter staying with Robert & Sandra Byram. In the Spring they would go back to Juneau, Alaska where the two of them would spend the summer.

Ron was a man who had many, many skills using all of them throughout his adventurous life. As a young teenager his first job was at Harlan’s Drugstore in Oroville, California. After High School he worked for a box factory & lumber mill near Cromberg, California. From there he went on to work in Lake Tahoe doing whatever jobs he could find to support his family. He also found the time to become a Placer County Reserve Deputy Sheriff. When the Oroville Dam project started he moved back to Oroville to work on the dam. Ron worked from the beginning to the completion of the Oroville Dam project. During that time, he came up with the idea to start his own backhoe business working as a subcontractor for the Oroville Dam Constructors. After the completion of the Oroville Dam he continued to operate a successful business for several more years in the Oroville area. He eventually joined the International Operating Engineers making this his lifetime career, working on many construction projects throughout California and Nevada. While being a member of the Operating Engineers Ron took advantage to learn and gain skills that were offered to its members. He learned to Survey and how to operate various construction machinery such as large Cranes, Earth Movers, Caterpillars, Front Loaders, Underground Mining Loaders, etc. He also attended Butte Junior College to gain knowledge that he could use to help his career along.

Ron Turner was a very intelligent man who lived his life to the fullest. He loved to Scuba dive and spear fish. He would always be eager to make some extra income by retrieving fisherman’s expensive equipment from their boats that had sunk in the ocean near Fort Bragg. For many years Ron loved to go to Fort Bragg to snorkel for abalone. While visiting his nephew in Hawaii, Ron would go Scuba Diving to view old sunken ships or just explore the underwater world of the ocean . Another passion that Ron enjoyed when he was a young man was racing motorcycles on his BSA. He could be seen on Friday nights or the weekends racing his motorcycle on the race tracks in the Oroville and Chico area. Ron also road dirt bikes for many years and he would go for long rides in the mountains above Oroville on his street bike. During the summer he loved to water ski on Lake Oroville, during the winter he enjoyed snow skiing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Lake Tahoe area. He had a love for flying and being around airplanes or anything else that flew. Ron was one of the founding members of the Oroville Foundation of Flight, EAA Chapter 1112. He used his construction skills to help build the 7,920 Square Foot building which became the home of the EAA Chapter. While a member of the EAA in Oroville he got to fly in a restored B17 WWII Bomber from Oroville, California to Seattle Washington. The high point of the flight is when the pilot asked Ron to come to the cockpit where he gave him full control of the B17. This is just one of many events in Ron’s life that he always cherished. Another exciting time in his life was while he was staying in Vinton, California he got to ride in several hot air balloons.

Ron loved history and enjoyed traveling throughout the United States visiting many historical sites. During his travels he always took the time to stop at museums , he would spend hours reading every bit of information that was displayed along with viewing all of the objects in a museum. During these trips he always had his camera, taking thousands of pictures of anything that interested him. He also loved to read books, articles, magazines about history. From airplanes, cars, trucks, tractors, gold mines, etc. Ron wanted to learn everything that he could about anything that caught his interest.

Ron was also an active member in the Moose, Eagles and Elks Lodges. His membership in these organizations was sometimes convenient while he was traveling. Ron could always find a great place to park his RV at an Elks Lodge for a discounted price along with a great place for entertainment and a great place to get an inexpensive meal or beer.

Ron spoke often of the people that he loved and cared for in his life. One of many of his friends and family in particular that he mentioned many times was Ollie Warren whom Ron went to grade school and High School with in Oroville, California. To have a friendship for 70 plus years is the type of man that Ron was. (One in a million) All of us who were fortunate enough to be able to share our lives with such an honorable, loyal, loving man like Ronald Turner have truly been blessed. Ron will be missed by all of his family and friends, but he will never be forgotten.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Ron's honor to, Cancer Resource Center, 1535 Medical Parkway Carson City, NV 89703. 775-445-7500 or go to the website at:

[email protected]

Arrangements under the direction of FitzHenry’s Funeral Home, Carson City, NV.