Hannibal native will be featured on ABC’s ‘Golden Bachelor’ series
Wayne, left, and his son Gerry Turner are pictured during the 1950s in Hannibal, Mo., while Walter was employed by Zimmerman’s Bakery. The photo was taken by Sigler Studio, and was contributed by Walter and Peggy Turner of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
Gerry (pronounced Gary) Turner, who celebrated his 72nd birthday this week, has been in the media spotlight this summer, promoted as the first “Golden Bachelor” to be featured on an upcoming television series with the same name, to be aired this fall on ABC.
Gerry, born Aug. 7, 1951, at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Hannibal, to E. Wayne and Mary Jo Ann Mudd Turner, left Hannibal with his parents when he was 9 years old, moving to Ottawa, Iowa in 1960. He, his parents and siblings returned to Hannibal frequently during the ensuing years, traveling the 150 miles each way to visit Gerry’s paternal and maternal grandparents, Everette and Delphi Turner, and Charles R. and Lagora Brannen Mudd.
Gerry Turner, who now makes his home in Hudson, Ind., is a widower and father of two grown daughters.
His father, E. Wayne Turner, now makes his home in Fort Wayne, Ind.
“In two months I’ll be 92,” Wayne Turner said via telephone on Monday. “I was born at 1238 Vermont St.,” in Hannibal, he said, and later attended Elzea school. “First through fourth grade was in one room,” he said.
“I graduated from Hannibal High School in 1949, and Jo Ann (Mudd, HHS Class of 1950) was my high school sweetheart.” They married in 1950.
Gerry was born the following August.
“Two important people came from Hannibal,” Wayne Turner likes to tell people: “Mark Twain and me.” Now he’ll have to add his son’s name to that list.
Post war courtship
Wayne Turner and Jo Ann Mudd met at a Pocahontas ice cream social in Hannibal circa 1948. “She went home and told her mother she found the man she was going to marry. A few years later we got married,” Wayne said.
After they married, “We lived (at 3200) James Road for awhile; lived on Bird Street for awhile; we didn’t own any property in Hannibal, we lived in apartments. My father-in-law and mother-in-law lived further up the hill on James Road, we lived at the bottom of the hill (near Highway 61).”
Long-time baker
As a young man, Wayne Turner went to work for Zimmerman’s Bakery, 722 Broadway.
“I was a baker all of my life - for 50 years,” Wayne said. “I was good at it. I was a manager and production superintendent for several plants. I went to school in Chicago to be an educated baker.”
After Zimmerman’s was sold to an Iowa bakery, two Hannibal employees were offered jobs in Ottawa: "Harley Jones and I moved to Ottawa in 1960.”
Wayne Turner worked in Ottawa for about 15 years, before moving to Fargo, N.D. His final move was to Virginia Beach, Va., where he retired on his birthday, in December 1996. The next day he and Jo Ann moved back to Hannibal. They bought a house and settled in at 1716 36th Street.
“Six months later, (the owner in Virginia Beach) sold the business and closed it up. I always felt like I kept it going,” while working there, he said.
Once relocated back in Hannibal, he went to work at County Market. There he remembers working with former Hannibal mayor, Richard Schwartz.
“I was a lucky man; I enjoyed my work for 50 years. “I never once hated to go to work.”
Fatherly pride
Is he proud that his son is to be featured on the upcoming season of “Golden Bachelor?”
“He’s a great son,” Wayne said. “I rode a motor cycle; Gerry and I rode all the way down the Smokey Mountains together. When I got to be 82 and turned my cycle in, he turned his in, too.
“We raised four kids, and I didn’t have to get any of them out of jail. I’m a lucky man. I’ll tell you what, I’m one of the most proud people. I’m proud of all my kids.”
He did note one thing: “My babies were all ugly,” when they were born, he said, "but they all got to be good looking.”
Wife dies
Jo Ann Mudd Turner died March 25, 2005, and is buried at Grand View Burial Park. “After that, the kids wanted me to move to Indiana so they can take care of me. So that’s why I’m here.” He has since remarried, and shares his life with his second wife, of 14 years, Peggy. She’s the one fielding the current influx of publicity calls regarding the “Golden Bachelor.”
Sill living in Hannibal is Jo Ann Mudd’s brother, James Mudd.
Gerry Turner, left, who will be featured this fall in the ABC television series, “Golden Bachelor,” is pictured with his father, Walter Turner. The Turners lived in Hannibal during the 1950s, where Wayne worked at Zimmerman’s Bakery. Photo contributed by Walter and Peggy Turner of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Gerry Turner, left, who will be featured this fall in the ABC television series, “Golden Bachelor,” is pictured with his father, Walter Turner. The Turners lived in Hannibal during the 1950s, where Wayne worked at Zimmerman’s Bakery. Photo contributed by Walter and Peggy Turner of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
