William Turnbull of Granby played the cello, bass and French horn and marched in St. Patrick’s Day parades playing bagpipe. He also built his own amphibian plane.
Turnbull lost an eight-year battle with leukemia and died March 6. He was 65.
A memorial service is planned in June at Hangar 19 at the Granby Airport.
Turnbull started music early, first with the cello at age 9, later adding the bagpipes and bass, said his mother, Louise Turnbull.
He was a member of the Granby Cello Quartet.
While at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, he played in the marching band and in a jazz ensemble.
But he had other dreams. He finally finished his plane two years ago but had to go out of state to land it on water, said his son, Mike Turnbull of Henderson, Nev. No amphibian planes are allowed to land on Colorado lakes.
He named it the Kittiwake, for a species of seabird in the gull family, his son said. Turnbull’s last big flight was to Oshkosh, Wis., with his daughter, Wendy Turnbull of Denver, as navigator.
His other big dream was to build his own mountain home. He and his wife, Kathy, designed their dream home in Granby and finished much of the interior themselves.
William Norris Turnbull III was born in Denver on May 9, 1944. He graduated from East High School and joined the Navy. He graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., with a degree in engineering.
He learned to fly in the Navy and was based in Sicily, Italy; Bermuda; and Iceland before becoming a commercial pilot. He was a pilot for Ports of Call and Polar Air Cargo. The latter took him all over the world.
Turnbull married Kathleen Peterson on June 11, 1966.
In addition to his wife, mother, son and daughter, he is survived by his brother, Carl Turnbull of Thousand Oaks, Calif.; two sisters, Laura Hoffman of Coral Springs, Fla., and Shari Barber of Mission Viejo, Calif.; and one grandchild.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
