Turner Park Wallace, Jr.

May 27, 1924—June 28, 2019

Dad’s family and friends called him Wally. He was born to Turner Park Wallace Sr. and Thelma Knapp in Norfolk, VA, and raised in Hancock, Wisconsin with his Brother, Harry Wallace. His Father was in the Navy and he spent part of his childhood as a Navy kid just as his 7 daughters did. He lived for a while in Cuba where his Dad, a Chief Boatswains Mate, was stationed. Turner P. Wallace Sr. was buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

After High School in 1942 he joined the Navy—something he said later that he always wanted to do. He had his Mother’s permission—but probably would have joined anyway. After boot camp and additional training at the University of Idaho—he was selected to attend Japanese Code School in Bainbridge Island, WA and completed that training in 1943. He was then deployed from San Francisco to a Radio Intercept Station on a small island named Wahiawa in the Marshall Islands. He said it was so tiny they could walk all around it in a day---and he was there for about 2 years. His duty was to intercept Japanese Code, so the Fleet could find Japanese Warships. He also had duty on Okinawa and Guam before finally getting orders back to the United States after 3 years away from home. He saw the gruesome catastrophe of the fighting on Okinawa when he was there.

Dad served on several warships:

USS Samuel N Moore (DD 747): Communications Officer

USS Providence (CLG 6): Staff—Commander Destroyer Division 253, Comservpac/CincPacflt

USS Vammen (DE 644): Officer in Charge

USS Embattle (MSO 434): Commanding Officer

His numerous duty stations after WWII include Bainbridge Island, WA (Again); Winter Harbor, Maine; Yokosuka, Japan; Cheltenham, Maryland; Port Lyautey, Morocco; Bremerhaven, Germany; Newport, Rhode Island, Long Beach, CA; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Long Beach, CA , Monterey, CA, back to Long Beach, CA; Wartime Sea Duty in Vietnam, 1966-1968. At many of these duty stations he had frequent orders that took him out to sea and other Navy places while we stayed on land—he was gone a lot.

Dad promoted through the ranks to Master Chief. Then with the encouragement and support of his wife, Angela Rose D’Andrea Wallace, he applied for and was accepted to Officer Candidate school graduating in 1955 as an Ensign. For several years after that, and with the continued support and encouragement of Mom, he accumulated enough college credits to apply to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA to earn a Bachelor’s Degree---which he did in 1965—finally a college graduate. Dad was promoted to LCDR USN, in 1965 and received orders to become the Commanding Officer of the USS Embattle and then to Vietnam—which was his last duty in the Navy. He retired in the summer of 1968.

After retirement from the Navy---Dad began a 20-year second career in the Banking industry focusing on real estate finance and worked his way up to Vice President and Manager, Real Estate Center, Newport Beach, CA. He did well in this business as he worked his way through the bank mergers from First Interstate to UCB to Wells Fargo Bank. He retired from his second career in 1988 after which he golfed almost every day at the Navy Golf course where he was a member of the Men’s Club. He and Mom took many road trips to visit family and friends. Dad was a very bright man and enjoyed keeping up with the news and politics. He loved sports and it was a rare day when the sounds of a baseball, basketball, or a football game could not be heard on the TV or radio.

Dad met, and married Ruth Elsie Realsen in 1946---Barbara and Linda came along soon after. In mid-1950 Ruth contracted a virus that took her life and suddenly Dad was a young widower with a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old. This was a deeply difficult time for all. In the summer of 1951 he met Angela Rose D’Andrea on a blind date and was blessed with love once again. They married on December 31, 1951. Angie took Barbara and Linda on as her own and they had 5 more children—Nancy, Terry, Jean, Mary Lou, and Andrea. Mom and Dad were married for over 55 years and created what is now a family of 7 children, 13 Grandchildren, and 11+ Great Grandchildren. We are a large, close family and will be forever grateful to Mom and Dad for their love and for keeping us together through all of life’s challenges.

Godspeed Dad. We love you.

In Lieu of Flowers please donate to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society https://www.nmcrs.org/