Turner Ford Gassaway, II, 97-passed away June 7, 2018. A graveside service is scheduled for June 15, 2018 @10:30AM, Roselawn Memorial Park, Denton, TX.

Born February 25, 1921 to Turner Ford and Lela Mae Moore Gassaway, he grew up in the small rural community of Elm Mott, TX, a few miles north of Waco. It was a time before the advent of electricity and running water in rural Texas homes. Kerosene lamps lit his boyhood home and water was drawn from a cistern that caught run-off from the roof. Dad spent his youth picking cotton and "throwing a hard ball" for various amateur and semi-pro baseball teams throughout Central Texas.

In 1942, WWII took him far away from the cotton patches and baseball diamonds of Central Texas. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and is the only cadet known to have chosen to be a bombardier during officer training school that did not receive a psychological discharge from the military. As a First Lt., Dad flew 35 combat missions in a B-17 as part of the 388 ^th Bombardment Group of the 8 ^th Air Force based out of Knettishall, England. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, and the European, African and Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with five Bronze Battle Stars.

After the war, he attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where he was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity and the University of Texas at Austin where he pitched for the Longhorns. He graduated from the UT College of Pharmacy with a degree in Pharmacy. Along the way he met and married the love of his life Joyce Mellina of Galveston. They moved to Denton in 1951 where they owned and operated Gassaway Pharmacy and Apothecary for over 30 years.

Dad will be missed by those who knew and loved him.

He was preceded in death by his wife Joyce, three siblings and his grandson, Holden Gassaway Stucky. Dad is survived by his daughter, Mellina Gassaway Stucky (Alan), son, Turner Ford Gassaway, III (Lee Ann), daughter Leslee Gassaway Davis; as well as six grandchildren: Tyler Ford Lewis, Charles Chandler Davis, Addison Ford Stucky (Taylor), Piper Farrell Lee Davis, Farrell Mellina Stucky, Turner Ford Gassaway, IV, great granddaughter, Sawyer Mae Stucky, and second spouse Pat Pearce.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Selwyn School in the name of Holden Gassaway Stucky.