Henry Albert Turcott

August 3, 1940 - November 30, 2021

 

Henry Albert Turcott was born on August 3, 1940, in Philomath, Oregon, to George Henry and Sylvia Belle Turcott. Henry was named from his father’s name and Albert from his Grandpa Jellison’s name. Henry was born with as much commotion as possible, his mom screaming while delivering a 10 lb. breach baby. He came in backwards but never looked back, only moving forward!

 

Henry was the fifth kid of seven children in his family.  His family consisted of two brothers and four sisters.

 

Henry grew up in Millersburg, Oregon. Not long after Henry was born, Henry’s father joined the Army. Henry’s first memory of meeting his dad was when he saw a man dressed in an Army uniform walking up the road and he went running in to his house to announce that daddy was home!

 

While growing up in Millersburg, they lived in a chicken house until a regular house could be built for the family. Later, other family members would also live in the chicken house when it was moved to another part of the land where they grew raspberries.

 

Henry got Rheumatic Fever when he was five years old. Due to the fever and missing school so much Henry had to repeat first grade and also developed a heart murmur that would last his whole life.

 

When a teen, Henry went out one night with family members to catch frogs for the local frog jumping contest. While out in the fields, they ran into a skunk where, as you would guess, they all got stinky, and a tomato bath was their reward! The other reward was that Henry won first prize in the Frog Jumping contest with tomato juice behind his ears!

 

Henry met Dorothy Ellen Mayhugh in 1957, due to a friendship that Dorothy had with the other Dorothy Jean Turcott. It wasn’t love at first site but there was definitely an attraction between the two! Such an attraction that they married on September 5, 1959. After Henry and Dorothy got married, Henry was driving faster than he should have been and the local police officer, a friend of Henry’s, Ace Keizer, pulled him over for speeding.  When Ace asked Henry why he was driving so fast, Henry responded, "If you had a hot wife like Dorothy, you’d drive fast too!"

 

Henry managed a service station in Albany when they were first married, selling gas at a whopping cost of $0.12 a gallon. Henry owned a 1951 Black Ford; his pride and joy and he would wash his car almost every day!

 

Henry and Dorothy began a family and had four children: Margie, Kathy, Mike and Rod.  During his life he worked several jobs - managing gas stations, working for a logging company, working at a lumber yard (which later gave him the experience to land his favorite job), taking a job to manage Bend Roof Truss for 15 years in Bend Oregon.

 

While living in Bend, Henry was active in the Elks Club and was an active participant in fundraisers to help with liver transplants, telethons, participating in Donkey basketball fundraisers (as a side note…Henry was too tall for the donkeys and his feet would drag on the floor as he tried to ride them), community events to provide food and clothes to the less fortunate.  One time the snow was so deep on the rural roads while delivering Thanksgiving dinners that the bottom of his four-wheel drive pickup was leaving a trail of his trucks transmission behind them.  He loved golf. He loved going to OSU games, the biggest Beaver fan!  He loved attending football and basketball games, even attending BYU games and going for drives in the countryside. 

 

Henry was an advocate for others, one time while at a tire store listening to a salesman tell a woman that her tires were bad because the motor mounts were causing damage to the tires, Henry told the lady that the salesman was giving her load of lies and she should go somewhere else….Henry was then asked to leave the tire store!

 

One of Henry’s greatest joys was when he finally became a grandfather.  His heart grew three times larger. He was so excited when his first grandson, Spencer, was born. He went out and bought Osh Kosh overalls for the grandson and then purchased some sexy sleepwear for Kathy and told her, “I want more grandkids please!”  He loved taking the grandkids to the Oregon beach, talking with them, and enjoying meals at Mo’s.  He loved visiting with the grandkids, listening to them, telling stories, and watching them grow. 

 

When Henry and Dorothy celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary, they were gifted a trip to Washington DC, a highlight of their life. They visited the capital, Mount Vernon, Arlington Cemetery, and all the different monuments in DC.  At each location that had a bookstore, Henry would first go to the store and shop for a book so they could remember it, sometimes taking up to 45 minutes to find just the right book.  Upon finally catching up with Dorothy and the family he would be excited about the things he would see and would have Dorothy stop in different locations so he could use her head as a human tripod as he would then snap a picture and then move Dorothy for the next picture!

 

During his life, Henry had many health issues, heart surgery, two hip replacement surgeries and one knee replacement surgery.  After his last surgery, Henry had to be cared for at the Timberview Care Center.  During the COVID Pandemic, life was difficult for Henry since he had limited access to Dorothy and the rest of the family.  One time Tim Walter came to the facility to sing church songs to Henry through his bedroom window to the delight of Henry and other residents.  One of Henry’s favorite times at the care facility was when three of his grandkids traveled from Utah and visited with him. They laughed as they tried to convert Henry to a University of Utah fan teaching him the Utah song and Utah hand sign and buying him a Utah hat. Stories were shared and Henry was in rare form and enjoying himself to the fullest.

 

Before Henry passed, he had been visited by his three surviving sisters and many of his favorite family members.  He passed surrounded by his loving family.  Many of the nurses and workers loved Henry and visited him after his death. The Turcott family would like to thank Evergreen Hospice for their caring service to Henry.

 

Henry is preceded in death by his father, George Henry Turcott; mother Silvia Belle Turcott; brother Warner LeRoy Turcott; sister Mary Ellen Sharp; brother George Edwin Turcott; and great grandson Boston K Jensen.

 

He is survived by his loving wife of sixty-two years, Dorothy Ellen Turcott; adult children Margie Roberts, Kathy Pranger (Darryl), Mike Turcott (Diana), Rod Turcott (Jenny); 16 grandchildren; and 25 great grandchildren and counting.

 

A Memorial Service will be held at 2:00pm, Saturday, December 4, 2021, at the Church of God Seventh Day, 820 Diamond Hill Road, Harrisburg, Oregon 97446.

 

AAsum-Dufour Funeral Home handled the arrangements (aasum-dufour.com).