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Rocky David Turner, 69

Rocky David Turner was born Nov. 29, 1949, in Ely, Nev. He died May 9, 2019 of a heart attack, while en route to Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene. He was 69.

Rocky came into this world fighting for life and breath — he was a blue baby. He spent the first three years of his life in and out of the hospital. (Perhaps a witness to his grit and aggressive behavior.)

The cussedness came from another source.

Around age 4, he fell on a rusty nail that penetrated his arm bone. Rushed to the hospital, again, they removed the nail, administered tetanus and penicillin and he almost died. He was allergic, and this eliminated any thought of military service. (It is said that it did not bother him much.)

Parents Raymond and Barbara moved Rocky and his two older brothers, Philip and Earl, from the copper smelter town of McGill, Nev., to the clean air, water, tall mountains and trees on a small farm, in Sagle, Idaho, in 1956. The parents struggled; but, in the end, all flourished.

Rocky graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1968, followed by mechanical school at North Idaho College. He operated and owned Rural Sanitation, LLD. Some time later, he sold the business and his home and moved to Hawaii. After a couple of years in Hawaii, he returned to Sagle, then moved to Alaska for a couple of years and then to Coeur d’Alene, where he married Julie in 1985.

Rocky had two children, Ryan and Charity; Julie had two children, Dawn and Amanda. They blended into one family.

Rocky loved driving. He liked all things fast ­— motorsports, demolition derbies and smooth and reliable machinery. He had a chauffeur business and drove taxicab, a lumber truck and a delivery service.

He had to retire when arthritis crippled his hands.

Rocky roared well, lived life hard and is greatly missed. Love and peace, our dear husband, father and brother.

Amen.