Jean Allen Turnage
POLSON — Jean Allen Turnage, 89, family man and devoted public servant, died peacefully Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. Jean, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, was born in St. Ignatius, on March 10, 1926, and graduated high school there in 1944. During the school year Jean worked as a service station attendant and drove a delivery truck that delivered milk from the various dairy farms throughout the Mission Valley to the creamery in Polson. In the summers he worked as a carpenter’s apprentice at the Naval Training Station in Bayview, Idaho, and also as a boilermaker in the Kaiser Shipyards at Swan Island, Oregon.
After high school Jean enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served as a top turret gunner on a B-29 until his honorable discharge in 1946.
Next Jean enrolled in the University of Montana where he served on the law review and received his law degree in 1951. While attending law school he worked for the Montana Highway Department.
Jean’s distinguished life long career in the law started with his private practice in Polson in 1951 where his law firm still carries his name some 64 years later. Just after he opened his practice he met and married the love of his life, Eula Mae Johnson in 1952. That same year he was elected Lake County Attorney and served 5 terms, and in 1959 served as President of the Montana County Attorneys’ Association. In 1962 he was elected to the Montana House of Representatives and then to the Montana State Senate in 1964 where he served for 20 years. While in the State Senate he chaired the Taxation and Judiciary Committees, served as Minority Leader in 1967, Majority Leader in 1977 and as President of the Senate for the 1983 Session.
In 1976, he was appointed a Special Assistant Attorney General and argued a case on behalf of the State of Montana before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC.
In 1984 he was elected Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court and again in 1992, serving 16 years as Montana’s top judicial official. While on the Supreme Court, in 1993 he was elected President of the National Conference of Chief Justices and also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts.
In 1995 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Legal Letters from the University of Montana.
After retiring from the Montana Supreme Court in 2000, Jean returned to his private practice and continued serving clients until he went on Senior Status in 2014.
Mr. Turnage was in the Masonic Order, including the Shrine and Jesters, the American Legion, VFW, Elks and Rotary International, as well as a life member of the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and the Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana.
Jean’s parents, Edward and Julia Turnage, his sister Antoinette Flynn and brother Russell Thompson all precede him in death.
He is survived by his wife, Eula Mae; daughter Patricia; son Lloyd (Geri); grandchildren Erin Leonard (fiancé Doug Trigg), James Turnage, Joseph Turnage; and great-grandchildren Tristian Leonard, Austin Leonard and Natalie Leonard.
Funeral Services will be held on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Polson, followed by interment with full military honors by the Mission Valley Honor Guard at Lake View Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana, Shriners Children’s Hospital, Mission Valley Animal Shelter or the charity of your choice.
Memories and condolences may be sent to the family at www.thelakefuneralhomeandcrematory.com.
Arrangements are under the direction of The Lake Funeral Home and Crematory.
