Retired Army major general dies

Gary Moskowitz

GLENDALE -- A week after his wedding day in 1945, Thomas K. Turnage

was called to duty and sent to Korea. He said goodbye to his wife, Betty

Jane, and did not return home for 14 months.

Major General Thomas K. Turnage, 77, died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2000, at

his home in Rancho Mirage. Turnage was born June 27, 1923, in Conroe, Texas.

Mr. and Mrs. Turnage had a house built in the Chevy Chase Estates area

of Glendale that they owned and lived in with their two children for more

than five years.

Turnage was appointed by President Reagan as director of the Selective

Secret Service System and was the final administrator of the old Veterans

Administration until 1989, when the administration became a Cabinet-level

agency.

A funeral service was held Friday in Palm Springs, and interment is to

take place Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

Known to friends as an honorable, dedicated man, Turnage was not one

to shy away from responsibility.

“He was a wonderful, well-liked man,” said friend of the family Martha

Feutz, who had known Turnage’s wife Betty Jane since she was 13. “He was

an affable man who loved to tell jokes.”

Turnage, a UCLA graduate, was commissioned an Army infantry officer in

1942 and participated in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.

Surviving family members include his wife, Betty Jane “B.J.”; son, Dr.

Robert Mason “Bo” Turnage; daughter, Andrea Turnage; a brother; and four

grandchildren.