Turner Butler Baxter

TURNER BUTLER BAXTER Turner Butler Baxter was born on March 13, 1922 and went to the loving arms of our Lord on February 13, 2009. He was the second of four sons of the late RW and Sallie Baxter of Dallas, Texas, grew up in Oak Cliff and graduated from Sunset High School, where he was a member of the golf team, in 1939. Turner attended the University of Texas in Austin but his college years were interrupted by his service as a corporal in the army during World War II, so he graduated in 1946. He married Pauline Taylor Bond of Kaufman, Texas in 1947, and went to work for his family's business, the Rio Grande National Life Insurance Company, eventually becoming Executive Vice President. In the 1970s, he earned an MBA from Pepperdine University. He and Pauline had two children, David Bond Baxter and Paula Taylor Baxter Pace (1953-2007) and raised them in University Park. In the 1950s, he was President of the new Dallas Health and Science Museum in Fair Park, later named The Science Place, and now the Museum of Nature and Science. In 1966, he was President of the Kiwanis Club of Dallas; he was also a member of the Salesmanship Club and the Dallas Country Club. He was an enthusiastic "non-uniformed" scouting volunteer in Circle Ten Council, serving as a District Chairman, participating in the Wood Badge program, and, after many years of service, receiving the coveted Silver Beaver Award. Despite living in Dallas, the Baxters remained involved in the Kaufman community, bought, moved and refurbished a farmhouse in the countryside, and retired there in the 1980s. For the next twenty years, Turner was an avid supporter of the Kaufman County Library, helping to raise funds for a new building, and was on the boards of the Kaufman Cemetery and the British Number 1 Flight Training School Museum in Terrell Texas. He and Pauline were active members of the First United Methodist Church of Kaufman. Turner was known for his sweet disposition, his keen mind for numbers, his interest in fitness and nutrition and his love of the Bible. He is survived by his wife, Pauline, his son, David, and wife, Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter, of Dallas, and 5 grandchildren: Christopher Ryan Pace of Dallas, Amy Taylor Pace of Brooklyn, New York, Richard Turner and wife Tara Lynn Baxter of Birmingham, Alabama, and Sarah Grace and James Calvert Baxter of Dallas.