Donald Lee Turpin, age 92, of Atchison, Kansas, died peacefully on October 4, 2024, at his home.

A funeral service will be on Friday, October 11, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at the Arensberg-Pruett Funeral Home. A visitation with the family will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday prior to the service at the funeral home. Don will be laid to rest in Mt. Calvary Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the American Legion Building Fund. Funeral care has been entrusted to the Arensberg-Pruett Funeral Home.

Don was born on January 12, 1932, in Atchison, KS, the son of the late Bailous Benjamin Turpin and Irene E. (Chew) Turpin. He was a graduate of Atchison High School class of 1951.

He proudly served his country in the United States Air Force from 20 NOV 1951 until his honorable discharge on 20 NOV 1955. He was a member of the V.F.W and the American Legion in Atchison.

Don was employed with MGP Ingredients for seventeen years until changing his career and joining KCP&L at the Iatan Power Plant for fifteen years until his retirement in 1994. Don spent much of his free time tinkering in his garage. He was a skilled mechanic who could fix or find a way to build just about anything. He enjoyed playing cards and telling jokes with his friends at the American Legion. Don will be remembered most for his ingenuity, sense of humor and his generosity to friends and family.

He married Rosa Lee “Rosie” Regan on July 5, 1952, at Keesler Air Force Base, in Biloxi, Mississippi. They shared over seventy years of marriage until her passing on June 12, 2023. Don is survived by his children: Mike (Tracey) Turpin, Chris (Melissa) Turpin, Kathy Phillips, Vicki Bennett, Pam (Mike) Andre and Tracie Turpin; a brother, Denny Turpin; twenty-two grandchildren, forty great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. 

He is preceded in death by his parents; wife, Rosie; daughter, Sherri Coulter and son-in-law, Mike Coulter; brothers, Ron Turpin, Jerry Turpin and Bill Turpin; sisters Darlene Cowan, Betty Fugina and Mary Jo Turpin; grandson, Tim Phillips; and great grandson Jayden Langan