Herbert Turman

Herbert Delbert Turman died peacefully on March 21, 2024, at Ascension St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  He was the last of 11 siblings and half-siblings still alive.  With his passing, a generation is now gone.

He was born in the home of his parents, Frank and Rosa Turman, in South Beloit, Illinois during the depths of the Great Depression on April 2, 1934.  That’s his official birth date.  He said that he was actually born on April 1, 1934, but when his parents went to Rockford to report his birth, his mother proclaimed that she was not having a child born on April Fools’ Day and reported his birth as April 2^nd.  No one ever figured out if he was serious or joking.  He was always telling jokes.

In 1948 he represented Beloit at the national marbles championships in Wildwood, New Jersey, and beat Charles Morris of Huntington, West Virginia, to become national champion.  On his return to Beloit, there were so many people waiting at the Beloit station to meet him, he said, the train stopped in Rockton, Illinois where he was picked up by a truck from the Beloit Fire Department, and that’s what he rode into Beloit where he was greeted by the mayor, and a crowd.

He attended South Beloit public schools, and after completion of high school, moved to California where he worked in the aircraft industry. While there, he took courses at Compton Community College.

He eventually moved to Milwaukee where some of his siblings were already living and worked a variety of jobs until going into a trucking business with his brother Frank, primarily hauling tires by from Milwaukee to a recapper in Antigo, Wisconsin.

In Milwaukee he met and married Miss Sylvia Jean Williams.  They had three children, Antoinette Marie, Herbert Delbert, Jr.,and Beverly Carol.

He was a long-time member of Northwest Baptist Church in Milwaukee.

His son, Herbert, Jr., preceded him in death in 2006.  He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Sylvia, his daughter Toni Miller (married to Richard) of Milwaukee, and his daughter Dr. Beverly Handy (married to Dexter), of Houston, Texas.  He is survived by three grandchildren, Elise Miller of Milwaukee, Jason Miller (married to Amber) of Travis AFB, California, and Christopher Turman of Racine, Wisconsin.  He is also survived by two great-grandchildren, Noah and Jasmine, both of Travis AFB, California.

Visitation will be at Krause Funeral Home, 7001 West Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Friday, April 5, 2024, between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM.  Services will follow in the chapel of the funeral home at Noon.  Interment will be at Graceland Cemetery, 6401 North 43rd Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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