David Alan Turner

January 11, 1953 — January 30, 2021

David Alan Turner passed away suddenly from a heart attack at home in Wharton Saturday morning, January 30th, 2021 having just celebrated his 68th birthday. He was born in Los Angeles on January 11th, 1953, the oldest of four boys born to Dean and Patricia Turner in that city.

David was energetic and intelligent, delivering newspapers on his bike when his mother and three brothers were living in Orange, California while she completed her degree at Chapman College. Musically inclined like his mother, he began playing the trumpet in Junior High School and eventually became a serious student of the guitar. During his troubadour phase while living in Northern California he also picked up the harmonica and banjo and wrote a number of songs and poems that he would share at poetry readings.

As a teenager living with his father, step-mother and second brother Wayne in Playa del Rey, California, he learned to surf, was certified on SCUBA gear, took advanced first-aid courses, and trained for bicycle racing, but most significantly took up backpacking and mountaineering that he was introduced to through family outings with his father. At the age of 17 he hiked the John Muir Trail solo on a vision quest that gave him a revelation that stayed with him for the rest of his life, leading to a lifelong interest in both religious and scientific knowledge.

In 1988 he was initiated into Sant Mat under Sant Thakar Singh and through this group was introduced to his life partner Laura Hunter. They were married by Master Thakar in Sacramento, California in 1991. In 2008 he and Laura were ordained as ministers through the Unity and Diversity Interfaith Ministries.

After years of alcohol abuse he became sober with the help of AA in 1991 and at an AA party in Wharton in 2016 celebrated 25 years of sobriety. In 2012 he moved to Wharton from LA to live near and eventually with his mother and step-father—Pat and LD Gassett—and brother Wayne, and assisted in settling LD's affairs after he passed in 2013. Along with his brother Wayne he was an attentive and competent caregiver to his mother after her serious heart attack in 2014, and Pat eventually passed in 2020. He is survived by his father Dean, step-mother Helen, brothers Wayne, Bruce and Craig, step-sisters Barbara and Betty, step-brother David, and life partner Laura Joyce Hunter.

He was proud of his editorial work on Laura's published book of heart songs titled Love From Above, and these are two verses from her tribute to him "Find Yourself a Simple Man":

He's just a simple Man,

Lives like the LORD wants Him to.

Not chasing after fortune and fame,

Like other Folks do.

He put the LORD first,

Even before finding Me.

God is his supplier—

In that way, He is SO FREE.

Dave let us know through a remarkable sign that he is now enjoying a new adventure in the world beyond.

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David Alan Turner

January 11, 1953 — January 30, 2021

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