Obituary of Walter George Turnbull

(George) Walter Turnbull was born at Douglas, Isle of Man on March 3, 1937. He lived with his parents and younger brother John near the town of Laxey on Mount Snaefel until immigrating to Canada in 1947. They traveled to Canada on the RMS Aquitania and settled briefly at Harmattan, Alberta where Walters’s Uncle Art Lockrem lived. In 1948 they began farming south of Hanna and welcomed sisters Elizabeth and Catherine into the family. In 1955 they purchased a farm north of Castor. Walter completed High School at Castor then moved to Hardisty where he worked on a dairy farm for Paul Mazure. In 1959 he married Frances Payne and their first two children Juanita and Bruce were born at Hardisty. After working on the diary farm for eight years, he and his young family purchased and moved to a farm west of Castor. Walter raised Holstein cattle, grain, hay crops and sold milk and cream to the Castor Creamery for many years. Four more children were born to them- George, Paul, Andy and John. Walter exited the dairy industry in the early 80’s but continued raising Hereford cattle. Walter drove the school bus for many years and in 1981 started working for the Town of Castor, where he stayed until retirement age. Livestock remained his lifelong passion and he was grateful to be able to keep the cattle and several horses until August of 2010. He was predeceased by his parents George and Edythe Turnbull, infant son George, his brother John, nephew Todd Buehler, father in law Nelson Payne, niece Dyan Payne and two brothers in law. He is survived by his wife Frances; daughter Juanita Collins of Lethbridge; sons: Bruce (Kelly) of Slave Lake, Paul of Cold Lake, Andy of Red Deer and John of Castor; grandchildren: Jessica (Dan) McIntyre, Stefanie Collins, James and Terri Turnbull, Kayla and Wyatt Turnbull; great grandchildren Gavin and Corrigan McIntyre. He is survived by his sisters: Elizabeth (Roy) Zinger of Summer Village of Silver Sands, Catherine (Dan) Kehoe of Edmonton; sister in law Marie Turnbull of Salmon Arm; nephew Timothy Turnbull and family of Fruitvale, BC; nieces: Jeannine Turnbull and family of Calgary, Angela Kotronis and family of Edmonton and Chantel (Rahul) Singh of Toronto. He is also survived by mother in law Bessie Payne of Viking; brothers in law Kenneth (Evelyn) Payne and family of Innisfree and Charles (Judy) Payne and family of Valleyview; sisters in law Florence Payne and family of Calgary and Emilie (Paul) Rae and family of Viking; as well as many friends. Walter passed away on September 28, 2010 following a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer. Parkview Funeral Chapels & Crematorium entrusted with the care and arrangements.